Posts Tagged: Platyprepia virginalis

Why a Population of 'Bears' May Predict White House Occupancy

Forget the polls that claim to know who will win the U.S. Presidency. Let's hear it from the insects, namely the woolly bear caterpillars that populate the cliffs of Bodega Bay. They may know. A UC Davis ecologist and his lab who study woolly bear...

A hungry woolly bear caterpillar, the immature form of the Ranchman's Tiger Moth, Platyprepia virginalis. This photo was taken in April 2011 in the Bodega Marine Reserve. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A hungry woolly bear caterpillar, the immature form of the Ranchman's Tiger Moth, Platyprepia virginalis. This photo was taken in April 2011 in the Bodega Marine Reserve. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Wooly Bear of a Caterpillar

If you enjoy climbing the cliffs of Bodega Head on the Sonoma coast, keep your eyes out for bears--wooly bear caterpillars, that is. The so-called "wooly bear caterpillar" is reddish, black and woolly and has a voracious appetite much like that of Joey...

A wooly bear caterpillar munching on foliage at the Bodega Head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A wooly bear caterpillar munching on foliage at the Bodega Head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A wooly bear caterpillar munching on fiddleneck. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A wooly bear caterpillar munching on fiddleneck. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Read more