![]() The males are often 10–15% larger than the females in linear measurements and can be 30–40% greater in weight. Exceptionally large males of as much as 32 kg (71 lb) are referenced in Soviet literature. The adult wolverine is about the size of a medium dog, with a body length ranging from 65–109 cm (26–43 in) standing 36–45 cm (14–18 in) at the shoulder and a tail length of 17–26 cm ( 6 + 1⁄ 2–10 in). Though its legs are short, its large, five-toed paws with crampon-like claws and plantigrade posture enable it to climb up and over steep cliffs, trees and snow-covered peaks with relative ease. With strong limbs, broad and rounded head, small eyes and short rounded ears, it most closely resembles a large fisher. Physical characteristicsĪnatomically, the wolverine is an elongated animal that is low to the ground. Recently compiled genetic evidence suggests most of North America's wolverines are descended from a single source, likely originating from Beringia during the last glaciation and rapidly expanding thereafter, though considerable uncertainty to this conclusion is due to the difficulty of collecting samples in the extremely depleted southern extent of the range. However, the most currently accepted taxonomy recognizes either the two continental subspecies or G. vancouverensis) and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska ( G. Some authors had described as many as four additional North American subspecies, including ones limited to Vancouver Island ( G. There are two subspecies: the Old World form, Gulo gulo gulo, and the New World form, G. Genetic evidence suggests that the wolverine is most closely related to the tayra and martens, all of which shared a Eurasian ancestor. Taxonomy Wolverine skull from the Pleistocene of Germany at the Natural History Museum, Berlin The name in Proto-Norse, erafaz and Old Norse, jarfr, lives on in the regular Icelandic name jarfi, regular Norwegian name jerv, regular Swedish name järv and regular Danish name jærv. The English word wolverine (alteration of the earlier form, wolvering, of uncertain origin) probably implies "a little wolf". Purported gluttony is reflected neither in the English name wolverine nor in the names used in North Germanic languages. However, in France, the wolverine's name is glouton (glutton). In French-speaking parts of Canada, the wolverine is referred to as carcajou, borrowed from the Innu-aimun or Montagnais kuàkuàtsheu. Similarly, the Hungarian name is rozsomák or torkosborz which means "gluttonous badger". The Eastern Slavic росомаха ( rosomakha) and the Polish and Czech name rosomák seem to be borrowed from the Finnish rasva-maha (fat belly). In Lithuanian, it is ernis in Latvian, tinis or āmrija. Similarly, the Estonian name is ahm, with the equivalent meaning to the Finnish name. ![]() The Finnish name is ahma, derived from ahmatti, which is translated as "glutton". Its name in other West Germanic languages is similar (e.g. The less common name for the animal in Norwegian, fjellfross, meaning "mountain cat", is thought to have worked its way into German as Vielfraß, which means "glutton" (literally "devours much"). ![]() The wolverine's questionable reputation as an insatiable glutton (reflected in the Latin genus name Gulo) may be in part due to a false etymology. The wolverine is now essentially absent from the southern end of its range in both Europe and North America. Its population has steadily declined since the 19th century owing to trapping, range reduction and habitat fragmentation. state of Alaska, the mainland Nordic countries of Europe, and throughout western Russia and Siberia. The wolverine is 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. 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. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The wolverine ( / ˈ w ʊ l v ə r iː n/) ( Gulo gulo Gulo is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, kwiihkwahaacheew), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae.
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