Facts about Wolverine

Wolverines are an important part of food chains in northern climates.

The wolverine has been hunted for its fur.

The range of a male wolverine can be more than 620 kmІ (240 sq mi) while encompassing the ranges of several females (with smaller home ranges of roughly 130-260 kmІ (50-100 sq mi).

The wolverine is found as far south as the Sierra Nevada in California and a few remain in the Rocky Mountains and northern Cascades of the United States (Rickert 2007).

The wolverine is the only extant member of the genus Gulo (meaning "glutton").

The wolverine is the largest land-dwelling species of the Mustelidae family, a taxon that also includes ferrets, martens, weasels, badgers, skunks, and otters.

Wolverines are found in the northern part of North America and Asia (Grzimek et al.

Unfortunately for the mustelid, the bear won what was ultimately a fatal contest, crushing the wolverine's skull (Gugliotta 2003; SD 2003).

Anatomically, the wolverine is a stocky and muscular animal.

Adult wolverines have no natural predators, save man, though they do come into conflict with (and may be killed by) other large predators, such as wolves, over territory and food.

The wolverine has glossy dark fur, usually of dark brown hair, and it has stripes of dull yellow along the sides.

Adult wolverines try for the most part to keep non-overlapping ranges with adults of the same sex (Taylor 1994).

Armed with powerful jaws and a thick hide, wolverines may defend kills against larger or more numerous predators.

Wolverines, as other mustelids, possess a special upper molar in the back of the mouth that is rotated 90 degrees, or sideways.

Wolverines are solitary carnivores, that both hunt prey and are scavengers of large animals that may have been killed by wolves.

The wolverine's (questionable) reputation as an insatiable glutton may be in part due to a false etymology.

Wolverines also may kill other carnivores, such as lynx (Grzimek et al.

Wolverines also are known on occasion to eat plant material (Rickert 2007).

In appearance, the wolverine resembles a small bear with short legs and a long, bushy tail.

The wolverine lives primarily in isolated northern areas, for example the arctic and alpine regions of Alaska, northern Canada, Siberia, and Scandinavia; they are also native to Russia and the Baltic countries.

The wolverine has been known to give off a very strong, extremely unpleasant odor from the anal glands, giving rise to the nicknames "skunk bear" and "nasty cat."

The wolverine figures prominently in the mythology of the Innu people of eastern Quйbec and Labrador.