Of Moths and Woolly Bears
By AnjaP
@Rollo1 (16676)
Boston, Massachusetts
December 11, 2015 6:45am CST
Fuzzy Wuzzy wuz a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair, so he grew wings and flew away.
Sometimes, even I listen to the documentaries on television. And I just happened to be watching one about the Woolly Bear Caterpillar, which lives all over and even in harsh climates, like the Arctic. In fact, it's perfectly suited for short Arctic summers and long Arctic nights. It's woolly, after all.
It does this by living in the caterpillar stage for years. 5-7 years on average, but some have lived up to 14 years. The reason these caterpillars live so long is that they can't get enough to eat in one short Arctic summer. It's not possible for them to get big and fat enough to pupate, so they hibernate under a rock or something and freeze solid for the winter. When Spring thaws them out, they spring back to life and start eating again. Years and years of being frozen and thawed and re-frozen just so they can eat enough vegetation to fulfill their purpose. And finally, the big day comes - they can build a cocoon and earn their wings. Finally, the moth emerges from the cocoon, finds a mate, lays eggs and dies within a few days.
Years of crawling around chewing on leaves. Years of turning to ice. Years of hard work and suffering only to live a free and winged life for a couple of days. I am not sure it's worth it.
In fact, it seems that perhaps it isn't that the caterpillar is the first stage of a moth's life. Perhaps, the moth is the final stage of the caterpillar life cycle. Maybe we look at it all wrong. Maybe the caterpillar is what nature intended, and the moth is just a means to procreate.
I will look at caterpillars in a whole new way. And I will take pity on the moths that gather around the porch light, wasting their precious few hours of life pursuing an electric moon that will lead them not to their destined mate and the creation of a new generation, but to folly and death.
This is why I hate nature documentaries.
25 people like this
25 responses
@WorDazza (15826)
• Manchester, England
11 Dec 15
It's a tough old life for many of nature's creatures. I feel particularly sorry for the males of the species who get devoured by their mate after procreation. What chance have they got in life? It's not even as if their Dad is around to warn them to stay celibate!!!
8 people like this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Dec 15
The insect world is one of daily battles in wars we don't even know are being waged. It's a tiny universe of its own, and so much of an insect's daily existence is devoted to survival and so many suffer grisly ends. Add to that the danger of being stepped on, and you feel better about being a human.
4 people like this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Dec 15
@WorDazza I think that leisure time was the entire point to man's evolution. Once we left the trees and started eating meat, we had time on our hands. One wooly mammoth kill could feed a bunch of people for a while. So, we could then devote time to learning how to construct better living spaces, indoor plumbing, air conditioning and central heating, and the internet where we now spend most of our time living virtual lives and fighting battles for social media survival.
5 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
11 Dec 15
Wow that's a long time to live for a bug. Or is a caterpillar not a bug heck I don't know. I hate the way moths flutter around my outside light.
2 people like this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Dec 15
@fishtiger58 The key is to keep the indoor light off until you have the door closed, then turn off the outside light. Moths are good at sneaking in, even if you don't swing at them.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
11 Dec 15
@Rollo1 My husband and I were at a lake once staying in their cabins. We had left the outside light on and when we went back to our cabin there were a ton of moths fluttering around. He knows I hate those moths so he swung his hands around to scatter them so we could get inside without a million moths following us. His wedding ring flew off his hand and into the woods. We never found that ring.
4 people like this
@celticeagle (189833)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Dec 15
What a tough life for a little wooly thing. Frozen and thawed over and over. Whoa!
2 people like this
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
13 Dec 15
Yah I still want to get rid of those moths so I won't watch it. Those caterpillars are awfully cute.
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
15 Dec 15
@Rollo1 It is amazing that a few hairs can turn a worm into a charmer lol
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
11 Dec 15
I void documentary type stuff - it either scares me or depresses me.
2 people like this
@Auntylou (4262)
• Oxford, England
11 Dec 15
I love documentaries . they beat most current affairs programmes by miles
@Dragonairy1 (1722)
• Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
14 Dec 15
I'm sure I've seen about these before, well I'm guessing there's not two types that spend most of their life frozen 
It's definitely a hard lot in life to be one.
It's definitely a hard lot in life to be one.1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (91086)
• United States
12 Dec 15
How sad...I will probably look at those moths a little differently when they are swarming around my porch light
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
12 Dec 15
I will admit I laughed...I loved your take of the life of the caterpillar. It was much more interesting than the science teachers were when I was in school. This I will remember.
