CONGAREE, S.C. — Spring brings warm weather, but it also brings insects and if you feel as if you've seen a lot of caterpillars you can trust your peepers, it's true.
Chief of Interpretation at Congaree National Park John Manchester says much of their park has been inundated with the fuzzy insects.
"This isn't necessarily typical you'll get these big what we call eruptions of Forest Tent caterpillars they can last 2-4 years," Manchester says.
He says they are called the Forest Tent caterpillar, which gets its name from their ability to spin a tent-like web, but why are there so many, he says it might be the warm winter.
"You get a year where you get a lot more than survive through the winter that will allow more of them to hatch, but these caterpillars like to group up in large clumps because they are what they call ectotherms," he adds. An ectotherm is an animal that is dependent on external sources of body heat.
While they can be a nuisance, they aren't harmful and he asks those who see one to leave it alone.
"It can be a little annoying when they are falling around on your head and things like that but they are a really important food source for migrating birds coming through here, they aren't really harmful to trees, you might see a tree that gets all of its leaves eaten off but most will replace those leaves in a month or so," he adds.
He expects people to see less of them in the coming week, as these only live 5-6 weeks before turning into moths.