Welcome! This week I have more images of that gorgeous wolverine I spotted last weekend. I have had some incredible moments with wildlife but this one was definitely a highlight! I think mostly because I was not expecting to see a wolverine when I went out looking for ptarmigan. And also because I was ridiculously close to this beautiful creature and not struggling to figure out whether the shape 1/2 a kilometre away was a wolverine or a cluster of ravens. You’d be surprised how much the two look alike from a distance.
Wolverines are in the weasel family which includes badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, and mink as well. Wolverines are much larger than I expected and this fellow was likely 60cm tall and over a metre long! His hind footprint was as large as my hand. Encountering a wolverine in the wild is rare. I have lived in the NWT 12 years and this was my first sighting, possibly a once in a lifetime moment. Wolverines have a higher population in northern areas likely because there is more undisturbed habitat.
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) lists wolverines as a species of Special Concern. However, The NWT Species at Risk Committee assessed wolverine as Not at Risk in the NWT in 2014. Not to get into too much of a debate here, but in my opinion, the extirpation of species from other areas of Canada should require regions where a stable population remains to have an equal or greater responsibility to protect ANY species at risk. We all have a responsibility to protect wildlife and if a species is threatened in Ontario, it should be managed as threatened in the NWT. The future is precarious enough for wildlife and differing management and protections across the country only ensure that species will remain fragmented and exist solely in tiny pockets where they are protected or have established habitat.
I’ve included a snippet from Hinterland Who’s Who that discusses at length the challenges to wolverine conservation: Wolverine does not to thrive in habitats that have been permanently altered by land-based activities, such as agriculture, urban and industrial development, and human settlement. The problem is a combination of the actual loss of habitat, the presence of humans and the breaking up, or fragmentation, of the Wolverine habitat, as well as the increased human access to the habitat.
Studies of Wolverine ecology do not suggest that Wolverines cannot co-exist with certain land-use activities, such as forestry, oil and gas extraction and mining. However, where such activities occur, especially if they are coupled with trapping, low-density Wolverine populations can have a difficult time surviving or growing.
Since it often relies on other carnivores to hunt its food, efforts to control wolf populations in the past have been a threat to the Wolverine. Even if such efforts aren’t in effect today, their impact is still felt by Wolverine populations who haven’t recovered. Today, over-hunting of caribou, one of the Wolverine’s main food sources, in some areas, is a threat to the species’ survival.
There are several elements in the species’ ecology that can hinder its recovery. The Wolverine’s low density and numbers make the recovery process very slow, since few young are born each year. Because of its great dependence on carrion, or dead flesh, from large mammal kills, the Wolverine needs to be able to survive long periods without food. Scavenging is a difficult way to survive. Many young, inexperienced Wolverines and very old Wolverines die from starvation, even if food is abundant.