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Science Talk

How the Woolly Bear Caterpillar Does Something Pretty Amazing to Survive the Winter

Science Talk

Scientific American

Science

4.2644 Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2023

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Caterpillars can’t regulate their body temperatures, so they have to come up with a totally different strategy to make it through the coldest months of the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:19.6

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

0:22.7

.jp.j. That's y-A-K-U-Lt.C-O.jp. When it comes to a guide Delvisio, executive producer of the show.

0:41.9

The whole podcast team is still out in the field, so while we're away, we're bringing back a few amazing oldies from the archive.

0:48.3

Fall in the northern hemisphere is just a week away.

0:51.4

Soon the temperatures will cool, hopefully, and the animals who hibernate

0:55.2

will start to hoard food and make their dens in preparation for winter. You know the woolly bear

1:00.0

caterpillar, right? It's technically the Isabella tiger moth, but I digress. Most of us know them as

1:05.9

very little seasonal forecasters, you know the bands and how big they are and whether or not

1:10.1

that means long winter or long spring.

1:12.9

Anyway, they don't really forecast anything.

1:15.0

It's just superstition, but they do have a different strategy when it comes to not freezing

1:19.4

to death during the winter.

1:21.3

Producer Kate Furby gets low, inches from the ground to learn their secrets.

1:25.4

You'll have to listen on to find out how they do it.

1:28.2

This episode first aired on March 3, 2023. Enjoy.

1:35.3

Some caterpillars have evolved with an antifreeze in their body cavities, allowing them to become

1:45.8

catar popsicles to survive cold winters. But climate change could threaten that.

1:54.1

There are caterpillars that have been reported to be put into an ice cube and frozen, and then

2:00.4

when the ice cube melts, they can get up and walk away.

...

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