I was mesmerized as I watched this little woolly bear caterpillar consume a plant leaf. I was quite impressed at how quickly the leaf was devoured. Keep in mind that this caterpillar is about two inches long and the leaf is the size of the palm of my hand. In total, it took about three minutes from start to finish for the leaf to be gone! There are several types of caterpillars that people call woolly bears and most of them are in the Erebidae family, which are better known as leopard and tiger moths. They’re called woolly bears because of their long hairs. This particular caterpillar will become a giant leopard moth (Hyercompe scribonia). It feeds on a large variety of plants including plantains, dandelions, honeysuckle, sunflowers, violets, and even cannabis. If populations explode, you can see that they can be devastating to crops and gardens, but luckily most of the time they really don’t do too much damage.