A wolverine was captured on video by a tourist in Yellowstone National Park this week — an impressive feat considering a research survey conducted in the park from 2006 a 2009 only documented seven of them.
Tourist Carl Kemp captured video of a wolverine in the northeast section of Yellowstone National Park.
Park visitor Carl Kemp was on a tour through the world’s first national park en marzo 5, when he spotted a wolverine in the middle of the road.
The furry animal galloped back and forth in the snow as Kemp and his daughter Maya looked on.
Tour guide MacNeil Lyons from Yellowstone Insight tours encountered the elusive animal, which was found in the northeast corner of the park between Lamar Valley and Cooke City.
He has been working in various jobs at Yellowstone for over two decades, and this is the first time he has seen a wolverine up close within the park.
“It was unbelievable that this creature was right in front of us,” él dijo.
Glotón, not wolf
Contrary to the name, the wolverine isn’t closely related to wolves. Bastante, it’s a part of the weasel family, which also includes badgers, ferrets and otters, de acuerdo con la US Department of the Interior.
Despite not being related to wolves, wolverines have a love-hate relationship with them. Wolverines sometimes eat the animal carcasses left over by wolves, said Rebecca Watters, executive director of The Wolverine Foundation.
sin embargo, wolves won’t hesitate to kill the mammals when in a direct conflict with them, ella añadió.
Wolverines prefer a colder climate, with temperatures in August reaching no higher than 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius), Watters dijo.
So what are wolverines?
Wolverines weigh between 15 y 40 libras (6.8 y 18.1 kilogramos) and make their homes in the Rockies, Alaska, the Mongolian mountains, and parts of Russia and Canada, according to Watters.
The species’ scientific name is Gulo gulo, sentido “glutton glutton,” y por una buena razón. Wolverines gorge themselves when food is available and stash pieces of carcasses in deep holes to consume later, ella dijo.
They primarily eat mice, squirrels, porcupine and caribou, said Mirjam Barrueto, a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary in Canada.
Wolverines also have a keen sense of smell and can sniff out a carcass buried under several feet of snow, Watters dijo.
“If a mountain goat or sheep is caught in an avalanche, a wolverine can sniff out the carcass and dig down to it,” Ella explicó.
Wolverines are a rarity everywhere
Wolverines aren’t just rare in Yellowstone. The elusive creatures have a low population around the world, which is partly because they’re territorial, Watters dijo.
An adult male keeps a territory of up to 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers) while an adult female might roam 300 square miles (777 square kilometers), which doesn’t leave much room for a lot of wolverines, Ella explicó.
Adicionalmente, females give birth starting at 3 años, producing about two kits every other year, Watters dijo. Wolverines live to a maximum of 15 años, and about half of kits die before reaching adulthood, which is another contributing factor to their low population, ella dijo.
“I’ve worked in wolverine research for 14 años, including in parts of Mongolia where the wolverine population is pretty dense, and I’ve only seen one in the wild,” Wattles said.
