5184 x 3455 px | 43,9 x 29,3 cm | 17,3 x 11,5 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
20 marzo 2014
Ubicazione:
Narvik, Norway
Altre informazioni:
The Wolverine (Gulo gulo) The Wolverine (Gulo gulo) (Gulo is Latin for "glutton"), also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae (weasels). It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids. The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself. The Wolverine can be found primarily in remote reaches of the Northern boreal forests and subarctic and alpine tundra of the Northern Hemisphere, with the greatest numbers in northern Canada, the U.S. state of Alaska, the Nordic countries of Europe, and throughout western Russia and Siberia. Their populations have experienced a steady decline since the 19th century in the face of trapping, range reduction and habitat fragmentation, such that they are essentially absent in the southern end of their European range. Large populations are thought to remain in North America and northern Asia. Wolverines are solitary animals. In February 2013, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed giving Endangered Species Act protections to the wolverine largely because climate change is whittling away its wintry habitat in the northern Rockies. The world's total Wolverine population is not known. The animal exhibits a low population density and requires a very large home range. Adult Wolverines try for the most part to keep non overlapping ranges with adults of the same sex. Radio tracking suggests an animal can range hundreds of miles in a few months. Female Wolverines such as this shown here burrow into snow in February to create a den, which is used until weaning in mid-May. Areas inhabited non seasonally by wolverines are thus restricted to zones with late-spring snowmelts. This fact has led to concern that global warming will shrink the ranges of Wolverine populations.
