On Being a "Cold Bug"

The last time I can remember being very cold was today. My friend Ansley and I went to workout outside. We were running around the track and running bleachers, but we were literally so cold that our hands and ears were stinging. It was very uncomfortable. Imagine being an insect in winter. They are outside, during the cold weather, all winter. They have no protection from harsh climates, like humans do. If we are cold, we can just go inside and turn on the heat, wrap up in a toasty blanket or warm our insides with a hot cup of coffee. Insects cannot do any of these things. This makes them quite remarkable.  They can stand under freezing temperatures with a variety of ways. They are very remarkable creatures, as I am learning in my Winter Entomology class.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/100738/Mourning-cloak-butterfly

One interesting insect is the Mourning Cloak Butterfly.  The caterpillars normally feed on willow in the summer, and pupate and become adults before the beginning of winter. How they survive is very interesting. The adults live through the winter during hollow tree. They just stay there all winter and eat on sap that is produced by the tree.

Another interesting insect is the Woolly Bear Caterpillar. They are in the larva stage during the winter. They use the tactic of supercooling. Supercooling is when a bug puts itself in a below freezing state, but does not freeze. They do this by producing an alcohol called Glycerol. You might know it better as antifreeze. Like keeping your car from freezing, glycerol also keeps a insect from freezing. As long as they do not come into contact with ice, the Woolly Bear Caterpillar will stay unfrozen, even at harsh temperatures. If a supercooled insect comes into contact with ice, it will freeze because the lattice of the crystals will grab onto the insect. This would cause the insect to suffer an awful death of freezing from the inside, because the frozen water would get inside their cells and destroy their bodies.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/forecast-for-the-winter-of-20052006-part-i-the-woolly-bears

I find both of these overwintering strategies amazing. If I had to be an insect outside during the winter, I would want to be one of these two. They both have awesome ways of surviving the winter outdoors. Even though I could not imagine living outdoors in the winter, being a insect during winter would not be quite as bad.