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LAGUNA CANYON FOUNDATION
April 2008 E-Letter ___________________________________
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Woolly Bear on Common Fiddleneck, taken in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park by Andrew Castellano, used with permission, www.flickr.com/photos/acastellano. |
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Our ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature.
~Sherlock Holmes, from A Study in Scarlet, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 |
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Hello, friends. Spring signals the end of hibernation for bristly caterpillars across the United States, Canada and Mexico. After feeding on new foliage for a few weeks, they will spin cocoons and emerge as moths. The most familiar of these is the woolly bear, the rust-and-black-striped tiger moth caterpillar. Typically black at either end and brown in the middle, a woolly bear's markings are actually comprised of thirteen variably colored segments. Folklore held that observing a woolly bear's stripes in the fall could help predict the severity of the coming winter. The wider the brown band, the milder the winter would be. Although scientists have disproved the accuracy of woolly bear weather forecasting, people across the United States still enjoy the tradition. Woolly bears even have their own annual festival in Banner Elk, North Carolina, with a parade, caterpillar races and a winter prediction by the mayor. The spring awakening of this celebrated caterpillar is another reason to KEEP IT WILD. |
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Join us to celebrate the acquisition of 158 more acres for Laguna Coast Wilderness Park at 4:15 p.m., Wednesday, April 23. For details, visit www.lagunacanyon.org and click on the event link. Laguna Canyon Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to preserving, protecting and enhancing Southern California's second-largest coastal canyons parkland.
Questions? E-mail Ellen Girardeau Kempler, Communications Director, Laguna Canyon Foundation, lagunacf3@lagunacanyon.org |
