Wolverines: seriously badassed

The US Forest Service trapped a female wolverine last week in Washington State and radio-collared her in hopes to learn more about this elusive species.

Because these 20-40 pound weasels are uber-stealthy, like LOTS of room to roam and have nearly vanished from the southern parts of their native range, they are considered one of the rarest North American carnivores. Wolverines are not, however, listed under the Endangered Species Act in the US as they are in Canada (where they are also more plentiful).   

But let's not digress - we are focusing on badassness not endangerment (though when it comes to human interaction these traits seem to be linked)

• The wolverine has been described as "the fiercest creature on earth" and "a dangerous, fearless fighter"
• People have reported seeing a wolverine carry away moose carcasses (at least 700 lbs) and caribou heads. They've also been known to destroy steel traps and eat through wood walls.
• They can fight a bear off their dinner
• Wolverines have 38 teeth and crushing jaws capable of searing through frozen flesh and bones
• They do steal big prey from wolves or other large carnivores, but are perfectly capable of downing a caribou or moose all on their own.
• They have highly frost-proof pelts

No wonder there is a seriously badass comic book character named after this pint sized furor.

Comments

[CanuckRob]

In my youth we had a cabin up on Hollyburn mountain (Vancouver BC). Before we sould hike up we would phone the range to find out if we had to bring new windows to repalce any that bears had smashed when searching for fool (always two windows, they never seemed to go back out the same one they came in through). Once the ranger told us that we had had a wolverine and that we had better bring lots of cleaning supplies.

The cabin reeked from the musk (near skunklike in it's intensity) but what was really scary is that the beast had chewed it's way into the steel cabinet that we stored our food in (to keep it safe from bears). Took us weeks to get rid of the smell and we decided to put electric fences on all the windows to try and keep the horrid things out. Then there wa the time the pine marten crawled into someones sleeping bag but that is another story.

[Anne]

Steel cabinet? That is soooo badass. Thanks for sharing Canuck Rob. But how dare you stop short of telling the pine martin story. Tell. Tell. Tell. Tell.