Yes I know it's a fuzzy photo. And the little guy was sound asleep so I couldn't get him to unwind. If he did, I reckon he would be about average in length.
Even all curled up, it's pretty easy to see that he's got a darned wide stripe around his middle.
The fact that I found him on October 13th doesn't really mean much; he's been asleep for a while already. But I did see some crossing the road just last week, which is kind of amazing to me as it's past their bedtime.
Did you know that wooly bears hibernate through the winter? Well yes, I suppose that would be pretty obvious since this guy is sleeping instead of flying south.
But did you know that the reason they CAN sleep through our winters is that their little bodies produce a substance that acts like anti-freeze?
If someone put anti-freeze into our systems we wouldn't sleep through the winter. We'd die. But we aren't wooly bears!
Anyway, last year I found my little friend in September; the first ones I noticed this year were probably right around that same time.
Another Dakota Winter is right around the corner now. It will be something to keep in mind as the season develops, whether it will be like last year (fingers crossed), or 'normal', or horrendous as the three in a row were before we got a break last year.
Once again the wooly bears I've seen say it will NOT be horrible.
Once again I hope they're right.
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