When you picture a wolverine, chances are that it’s a ripped Hollywood superhero that springs to mind, rather than a bear-like creature the size of a dog that lives in the snowy forests, tundra and mountains of the northern hemisphere.
The real-life wolverine (Gulu gulu) may lack the glamour of its comic book cousin, but it’s a remarkable creature nonetheless: a formidable predator, highly territorial and brilliantly well adapted for its frigid habitat.
Is a wolverine a wolf or a bear?
A wolverine is neither a wolf or a bear. Although wolverines look like a cross between the two, wolverines are actually the largest land mustilid (the sea otter is the largest marine member of the Mustelidae family, which includes the weasel.
Where do wolverines live?
Wolverine can be found across the northern latitudes of Asia, Europe and North America, inhabiting cold, snowy environments that include boreal forests, tundra and mountains. The species used to be found in more southerly areas of Europe and North America, but human activities including hunting and forest clearances has seen a significant contraction of its range.
What do wolverines look like?
As you would expect with being a member of the weasel family, wolverines have various weasel-like characteristics, including a stocky body, short legs, a bushy tail and thick fur.
Dark brown in colour, with light brown patches going from their shoulders to the base of their tails, wolverine fur is also oily, making it resistant to frost. For reason, and also because it is very warm, the Inuit, the Indigenous people of North America, traditionally used wolverine fur to trim their parkas. As with polar bears, furry feet help the wolverine get around in snowy landscapes.
There are two sub-species of wolverine, the North American (G. gulo luscus) and the European (G. gulo gulo), though the differences between the two are genetic rather than aesthetic or behavioural.
Do they have retractable claws?
Unlike the Marvel character, wolverines do not have retractable claws made of bone. Instead, their claws are permanently extended, making them extremely useful tools for digging, climbing trees and gripping prey. Wolverine claws, which are strong, curved and very sharp, are made of a protein called keratin, the same stuff found in human fingernails and the claws of other mammals.
How big are wolverines?
An adult wolverine typically measures between 65cm and 145, plus another 13cm-26cm for its bushy tail. Females are smaller than males, weighing 6kg-12kg, while males might weigh 11kg-18kg.
How aggressive are wolverines?
The wolverine’s reputation for aggression has a lot to do with how they are portrayed in popular culture – Hugh Jackson has a lot to answer for. Human interactions with wolverine are extremely rare, thanks to the fact that they live in remote regions and have very low population density. However, it is certainly true to say that these animals are very effective predators, highly territorial, and bold when it comes to defending their food sources from predators such as wolves.
How large is a wolverine’s territory?
Wolverine are solitary and fiercely territorial, with each male defending a large territory(250sqkm to 1,500sqkm) that includes the smaller territories of several females. A male wolverine might range as far as 24km in a day, marking its territory using oil from a musk gland.
What do wolverines eat?
The wolverine’s scientific name, Gulo gulo, is Latin for glutton – a reference to the creature’s opportunistic, carnivorous diet. Wolverine will prey on all manner of small birds and mammals, and will scavenge on much larger creatures, including deer and caribou.
Wolverines have been known to take down young or weak caribou, but a healthy adult would be too challenging. As well as flesh, they consume bone marrow, using their strong jaws and teeth to crunch through bones. Wolverine will cache their food for later, spraying it with foul-spelling oil from a special gland to keep other animals away.
How is the wolverine adapted for its diet?
Wolverines have some of the most powerful jaws of any carnivore when it comes to chewing strength, making them capable of crushing bones and meat that has frozen solid. In addition, they have an additional set of premolars, compared to other members of their genus – these extra teeth enable them to extract more nutrition from their diet, an advantage in the harsh environment they inhabit.
How do wolverines reproduce?
Wolverines come together only to mate, with mating taking place between April and September and couples spending a few days in each others’ company. Males typically mate with more than one female per season, while females tend to stick with the same breeding partner from season to season. Females breed every other year. In order to guarantee that young are born when the female is in good physical condition, food supplies are plentiful, and environmental conditions are right, embryo implantation can be delayed for up to six months are fertilisation has occurred. This process is known as embryonic diapause.
Where do female wolverine raise their young?
A female wolverine will use grass or leaves to build a nest for her young in a cave or rocky crevice to protect them from predators and the cold. They are also known to build dens in deep snow. A female wolverine will give birth to two or three kits between January and April, the family inhabiting the den until May. Wolverine dens are found at high altitude locations, where the snow will last until spring, enabling the mother to keep food cached for her young until they are old enough to forage for themselves. Kits are weaned at around three months old, begin foraging by themselves at around six months old, and reach sexual maturity at two to three years old.
How long do wolverines live?
The average lifespan for wolverines are 5–13 years
What threats do wolverines face?
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the wolverine as a species of ‘least concern’. In the United States, however, it is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act owing to the impacts of climate change on its habitat.
