Scarcity of the Wolverine

One of the strangest and most interesting forms of living, flesh-eating animals is the wolverine, which is now headed down the fading trail toward extinction. Primarily responsible for this alarming decline has been the intensive and unregulated trapping of wolverines, which still persists in some of the more important fur-producing regions. Civilization's heavy heel has reduced the animal's numbers faster than it can reproduce itself. Today, there may be less than seventy-five wolverines in the United States, all of them making a last stand in small, isolated groups in national forests and national parks of the West. The growing scarcity of the animal in Canada and Alaska is also alarming. Fur buyers, trappers, naturalists, and wildlife workers are aware of the precarious status of the species, but intelligent management measures are still lacking. Unless the wolverine is afforded immediate protection from the destructive resourcefulness of the human race, it may not answer the roll call of our interesting species at the end of the present century.

Wolverines were probably never abundant, although widely distributed over sub-Arctic regions. It is a boreal animal in both hemispheres, but most abundant in northern North America, where it ranges from the Arctic tundra's down to and beyond the timberline. Some of the records previous to the middle of the nineteenth century show that it ranged north of latitudes 42° and 43°. One was reported from the Berkshires in Massachusetts, and Audubon secured specimens in Rensselaer and Jefferson Counties in New York. In more recent years it has been found to occur as far south as Walker Pass below Mount Whitney. Although Michigan is known as the Wolverine State, strangely enough there is no authentic record of a wild wolverine ever having been seen within its borders.

There are few persons, in fact, who have ever seen wolverines in their natural state, even in localities where the animals are known to be relatively common. In size and form the wolverine is something like a badger, measuring about three feet in length, sturdily built, covered with coarse dark-brown fur with a broad, light, lateral band, and supported by rather short, stout legs, the toes of which terminate in strong, sharp claws, considerably curved. Its feet are semi-plantigrade, and in walking the back is arched high, while both head and tail are carried low. Remarkably small eyes set in a massive skull, and the rounded ears, as well as the somewhat elongate form, characterize the wolverine as one of the Mustelidae. As in other mustelids, the wolverine is provided with anal glands, which secrete a yellowish-brown fluid possessing a highly fetid odor. The function of this gland is not definitely known, but probably is used in establishing scent posts for attracting a mate.