Animal wolverine is a wild and dangerous beast of the marten family. It is the only species of its kind. The animal is also called a skunk bear, as it has an unpleasant odor. The third name is gulo, which means “glutton”. Learn more about this beast from our article.
Material Content:
Rare species description
- From its family, this is almost the largest animal. Wolverine usually weighs from 10 to 20 kg, but there were really huge individuals weighing 30 kg each!
- The length of the body without a tail reaches 1 meter. The tail is also long, grows to more than 30 centimeters. The height of the animal at the withers is 40 - 45 cm. The back is curved in an arc.
- The front legs are slightly shorter than the hind legs, and the feet are large, wide, resembling human ones. Thanks to these legs, the beast can move without problems on loose snow.
- The head is small, the muzzle is elongated, the ears are neat.
- The body is densely covered with long beautiful wool. The color of the wolverine is dark brown on the back and tail, and wide stripes of cream color are beautifully located on the sides. Muzzle with a dark mask, the same color and paws (from the middle down). The fur is dense, repels moisture, does not allow cold.
What does a wolverine look like? The animal looks very pleasant, when you look at it you cannot say that it poses a serious danger. But long, curved and very sharp claws are capable, like knives, of slashing even a larger beast.
Wolverine can attack a person if he poses a threat to her.
Habitat
The described animal is an inhabitant of forests of the northern regions. Thanks to its fur coat and powerful legs, the beast easily survives snowy and cold winters.Wolverine chooses the most deaf places farthest from humans - taiga, forest-tundra, where there are many bushes.
The animal lives almost throughout Eurasia and in America. Its range is quite extensive, and you can meet the beast in Russia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, China, Mongolia, Canada, and the United States. In Central Europe and North America, wolverine was once also common, but due to deforestation, as well as constant hunting for animals, the species was exterminated in these places.
On the territory of our country, the animal populates the forests of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. But even knowing where the wolverine lives in Russia, it is almost impossible to meet him in the wild - it is afraid of people.
Lifestyle and habits
Wolverine is a lone beast. For most of his existence, he stays away from other animals and his own species. Each wolverine has a forest area in its possession, the borders of which reach 2000 square meters. km The beast zealously guards its territory, hunts only on it, not wandering into a foreign land. Allows male Wolverines only guests of the opposite sex of their species. If an opponent accidentally wanders here, he will be subject to attack by the owner. Usually an uninvited guest does not flee, but engages in a battle that ends with the death of one of the fighters.
Shelter Wolverine builds in crevices of rocks, in eversed rhizomes of trees. Feeding the beast leaves at dusk - he has excellent eyesight, keen hearing and sense of smell. In the northern latitudes, where there are periods of a long day and a long night, Wolverine alternates for 4 hours with sleep and wakefulness. Interestingly, during the period of activity, the animal can make sounds similar to fox yapping.
The animal marks the borders of its territory with unpleasantly smelling marks. A wolverine can go around in a few days, moving on average 40–70 km daily.
The beast is very hardy, can quickly move not only on the ground, but also climbing trees. The settled type of existence is unique to females during the offspring rearing period.
A lonely lifestyle is interrupted by mating and nursing the cubs. From May to August, Wolverines are paired. One male may have several “wives,” and he will look after all the same during the feeding of the cubs.
- After fertilization, the egg is in a latent state for 8 months, that is, it does not divide, the fetus does not develop in any way.
- Further, the embryo develops within a month and a half, and from 1 to 4 Wolverine cubs weighing, on average, 100 grams each are born.
- For as long as 3 to 4 months, the mother feeds her babies with breast milk, during this period the father of the family feeds her husband with various “goodies” - fatty worms, rodents.
- Further, the female begins to introduce diversity into the offspring's diet - burps half-digested food.
- From 4 to 5 months of life, the wolverine is considered to be quite an adult and independent individual, but lives with his mother for about two years. The female feeds children, teaches to hunt, build shelters. Further, young animals leave their native lands, go in search of their own plot.
Power Features
Wolverine is a predator, but feeds not only on meat. In food, this nocturnal animal is not picky, often carrion becomes its food - the remains of the meal of bears and wolves. The jaws of the beast are so powerful that they easily grind even large bones. Wolverine also hunts on its own. She catches birds (even large ones, for example, black grouse), hares and mice. Very rarely, a larger animal becomes a victim of the beast - a wolverine can attack a mountain sheep, deer, elk, and roe deer. But an adult and a healthy individual is beyond the power of the beast, so he prefers young animals, sick and old large animals. Wolverine drives its prey.Since she herself is not a fast runner, she takes the victim by starvation, torturing her with persecution.
Wolverine is most lucky when hunting in the snow, when a large beast gets stuck in a snowdrift, a predator deftly sneaks up to him, not giving a chance to leave.
It happens that a wolverine enters the battle for food with a more serious predator - a wolf or a trot. This rarely happens when the beast for several days is not able to independently get at least a small rodent. Wolverines and prey from traps of hunters kidnap. The beast itself almost never falls into traps, as it is very neat, attentive and cunning.
In the summer, hunger for Wolverine is not terrible. She steals eggs from bird nests, easily moving through trees. The birds that hatch eggs also catch fish, and it extracts bee larvae and honey from beehives. And this beast is a clever fisherman. He goes to eat during spawning, knows where there are wormwoods with fish.
Wolverine is a completely fearless animal. This is his particular danger. She is able to kill the beast five times more than herself, so even a brown bear prefers to flee or avoid her when meeting with a wolverine.
Population and species status
Wolverine, although a rare species, is in the status of the smallest threat of extinction. The small numbers of Wolverines are not related to deforestation and extermination. An animal, as has already been written, is a loner, and one inhabits an area of several thousand square kilometers, hence its rarity.
The wolverine population is quickly recovering, but is being regulated by humans. In some countries, an increase in the number of this animal has led to a reduction in the number of wild deer, elk that the wolverine will attack.
Respect for harmony in nature is an important part of the influence of people on the abundance of all species.
How long is a nocturnal animal
Wolverine is a long-liver, and in the wild, its life cycle reaches 10 years, if the animal is careful not to penetrate other people's lands. When keeping this animal in captivity, cases were recorded when the beast survived to 17 and up to 20 years!
Human interaction
Some sources indicate that the interaction of wolverines and humans is possible, as young cubs taken by little ones quickly get used to people and adapt to their comfort. But this is far from the truth. There were cases when hunters brought in feeding animals, whose mother died in a trap or from a bullet, but when they reached 4-6 months they were released, because these are wild animals dangerous to humans, not adaptable to living together.
Many tried to bring out the manual wolverine, but even after several generations that were supposedly domesticated, animals, growing up, showed aggression. Wolverine is not designed to live with people, it is dangerous not only for children, but also for adults.
Wolverines are not bred on farms, even though their fur is very much appreciated. A rare and successful prey for any hunter is this beast. They don’t eat meat, only skin is used on the farm.
The fur is used in tailoring collars on winter clothes. It is valued because it is not covered with ice in the cold from warm breath.
Interesting facts about Wolverine
There are many legends and myths about the animal. For many centuries, Wolverine causes horror and awe in people, remains one of the most poorly studied predators on the planet.
We will not go into mythology, we will reveal only real interesting facts about this beast:
- Wolverine is a separate species. He looks like a badger, and a bear, and a weasel, and a skunk, and a ferret, and a marten. That is why in ancient times the beast was considered a werewolf, an accomplice of the Devil himself.
- The animal is so hardy that even at -50 ° C it goes around its lands, moving several tens of kilometers every day.
- Wolverine was created to live in a harsh climate, as the wide feet, similar to snowshoes, prove it.
- With the onset of heat, the beast rises higher, where snow still lies.Snowdrifts are help in hunting, because wolverines move easily along them, and larger and heavier animals get stuck in the snow. Take and eat!
- Wolverine rescues from the cold, does not freeze in frost, repels water.
- The beast is kept at a distance from the person, and his photographs in natural living conditions are very rare.
- The animal is an excellent dart frog, a swimmer, but runs poorly. Wolverine can walk up to 45 km without rest.
- The chest of each individual is unique, like a fingerprint in humans.
- Climbing from a tree, the wolverine moves upside down, and not vice versa, like other animals.
- In its weight category, Wolverine is the strongest. With ease, this animal will fill up not only the grizzly, but also deal with the wolf pack.
- The breeding period for males is 1 time per year, for females - 1 time in 2 years.
- Wolverine is afraid of starvation only, so during times of unsuccessful hunts it can attack a lone wolf or bear, take food from other predators.
- Upon reaching the age of two, Wolverines are forced to leave their habitable territory. If they do not leave, then the father can simply gobble them up.
- Wolverine, like a shark, smells the blood for many kilometers. He learns dead fish from under a five-meter layer of snow, digs it up and eats it.
The description of the type of wolverine will allow us to imagine what this unique animal is like. Contrary to popular belief, such a beast cannot be tamed; moreover, every attempt is life-threatening. Wolverine is a beautiful and interesting creature that deserves life and needs the protection of humanity. Protect the environment!
