Gold to crimson leaves are not the only signs of a changing season.
A black and russet-banded Woolly Bear makes its way along Little Crum Creek.
Come spring, it may pupate, emerging as an adult Isabella Tiger Moth.
But autumn’s caterpillar must first endure a long cold winter:
taking shelter, curling in bristly cover against predators,
and, incredibly, generating a cryoprotectant chemical
to safeguard cells from freezing temperatures…
waiting for spring and the return of warmer weather.
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