[That headline is from the Wildlife Conservation Society press release, printed as is. And why do Wolverines need refrigerators? The climate is getting warmer of course. – Anthony]
Will insects and bacteria consume more of the wolverine’s food if the climate warms?
Wolverines live in harsh conditions; they range over large areas of cold mountainous low-productivity habitat with persistent snow. The paper suggests wolverines take advantage of the crevices and boulders of the mountainous terrain, as well as the snow cover to cache and “refrigerate” food sources such as elk, caribou, moose and mountain goat carrion, ground squirrels and other food collected during more plentiful times of year. These cold, structured chambers provide protection of the food supply from scavengers, insects and bacteria. In addition, the refrigerated caches increase the predictability of available food resources, reduce the energy spent by females searching for food while in lactation phase, and decrease the time mothers spend away from cubs.
The paper appears in the current edition of the Journal of Mammalogy and was co-authored by Robert M. Inman of WCS, Audrey J. Magoun of Wildlife Research and Management, Jens Persson of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and Jenny Mattisson of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.
“People don’t normally think of insects and microbes as being in competition for food with wolverines,” said lead author Robert Inman of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s North America Program. “But in fact, bacteria will devour an unprotected food source if that source is available.”
Through an extensive literary review, the authors noted that wolverine reproduction is confined to a brief period of the year, and the lactation phase in females (February through April) corresponds to a period of low availability of food resources. Wolverines, which are opportunistic foragers, have adapted by amassing food caches during the preceding winter months when food is more readily available. Without the cached food supply or an unforeseen alternative (such as a winter-killed ungulate), early litter loss occurs.
Inman said, “Understanding why and how wolverines exist where they do and the various adaptations they have evolved to eke out a living will better inform population management strategies and conservation of the species.”
Climate change will play a key role in management planning for the conservation of wolverines, the authors say.
In a study published in 2010, wolverine biologists demonstrated a relationship between the areas where wolverines exist (their distribution) and persistent snow cover. The first theory advanced was that wolverines must have deep snow available in springtime so that they can give birth to their small cubs in a warm, secure den. The newly released study suggests that other factors related to climate and snow pack, such as competition for food, may also be involved in explaining the limits to wolverine distribution.
Because of their dependence on snow pack, wolverines were recently listed as warranted for protection under the Endangered Species Act due in large part to the threat of climate change reducing distribution and habitat connectivity. The authors say that a deeper understanding of how and why wolverines use snow pack the ways they do is critical to understanding how climate change will impact survival and reproductive rates.
“Shedding light on the specific mechanism of how climate will affect wolverines is important in order to know what to do to help them hold on,” said WCS’s North America Program Director, Jodi Hilty.
Inman and co-authors published a study in December of 2011 on the spatial ecology of wolverines in the Journal of Wildlife Management. This latest paper represents the second of several that will help to inform a conservation strategy for the species.
Soon to be requested: Air conditioners for polar bears, chilled water systems for Penguins, and snow machines for reindeer, because as we’ve been told, nature didn’t equip these species with adaptation genes /sarc
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“The authors say that a deeper understanding of how and why wolverines use snow pack the ways they do is critical to understanding how climate change will impact survival and reproductive rates.”
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… is critical to understanding how to use wolverines as tools of propaganda.
It easy. The wolverine ( with the totally awesome name Gulo gulo!) is so poorly known, that all these “studies” need to do is to report the possibility of negative impacts while leaving out information regarding the wolverines adaption strategies.
Those who use the wolverine as a tool to destroy capitalism, are the enemy of the wolverine. Only a wealthy nation has the resources to do things like protect these animals. Its a shame that everyone doing research has gone through the Marxist propaganda program known as a wildlife management curriculum!
An animal that lives in a “harsh” environment, is surely a hardy animal.
It looks like a carrion eater to me (I know nothing of them), wouldn’t the smell of a rotting bacteria laden carcass attract them, and thereby feed them? Not exactly competition, unless your the bacteria who wants a good feed and breed before being eaten yourself by said carion eaters.
Of course Wolverines need refrigeration. How else you gonna’ keep the burgers fresh on the way to the tailgater at the Big House?
The paper suggests wolverines take advantage of the crevices and boulders of the mountainous terrain, as well as the snow cover to cache and “refrigerate” food sources…The authors say that a deeper understanding of how and why wolverines use snow pack the ways they do
Have I missed something, or is the main “fact” behind the scare rather a speculation? Has anyone photographed the “cold, structured chambers,” or observed wolverines actually using snow? And how cold does a cold chamber need to be? In years past (not too many), my family was still using the “cold cellar”, which was just a subterranean area that was naturally cooled by not being artificially heated, and an awful lot of food lasted quite a while, even though probably intruded upon by insects, bacteria, and other competitors.
So, let’s get this straight. There is less food in winter because of the cold and snow. But, if it gets warmer, the amount of food won’t increase, just the competition for food?
I agree with the suggestion above that these people should be sent out to do fieldwork with the cute, cuddly, vulnerable wolverines. Let’s hope their logical skills get sharpened up in the process, or they might lose some enthusiasm for protecting these killing machines if one of them gets annoyed.
Poor Yorek says:
July 14, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Wolverine = life support system for four claws.
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“When hungry they will dig, climb, and bite their way through snow, dirt, or wood to get to food, such as a hibernating marmot under ten feet of snow (Sleeper 1995).”
http://bss.sfsu.edu/holzman/courses/fall00projects/wolverine.html
From what I can gather, they are solitary, have large territories, and the only real threat to their survival is habitat destruction.
Thet wolverine sounds like some mean crittur. I’m a thinkin’ that that guy in the fur hat carryin’ a Sharps who sold me one as a pet fur ma children th’other day weren’t bein’ thet truthful bout un bein so cuddly. I’d better go’n check on the baby,ya’ll.
Wolverines, just like salmon, steelhead, dear, elk, cougar, and bear respond to long-scale oceanic-atmospheric oscillations. As a result of the mountains in the NE corner of Oregon rebuilding snow-pack and being decidedly colder than decades ago, the Wolverine is back and has even been live-trapped and released by a local (someone I know well), much to the chagrin of “experts” who had said repeatedly that not only are they extremely difficult to trap, but have been absent from the Wallowa Whitman National Forest and Eagle Cap Wilderness for quite some time. I would imagine that when my friend contacted wildlife biologists to come and photo said wolverine in said live trap, my friend was ready with a serving of corvidae for each person in attendance at the photo op. He had identified numerous signs of wolverines in the area but no one would believe him. Afterall, he is just an uneducated local boy who, according to college educated experts, wouldn’t know the difference between a wolverine print and his own shoe in the snow.
Pamela Gray says:
July 15, 2012 at 7:50 am
Afterall, he is just an uneducated local boy who, according to college educated experts, wouldn’t know the difference between a wolverine print and his own shoe in the snow.
I used to work at a landfill — I once made an emergency run to the nearest hospital transporting a “college-educated” DEP inspector who didn’t believe me when I told him that pure methane burned so hot, the flames were only visible in the infrared. He gave me “that look” and to prove me wrong, walked over to a standpipe and stuck his hand in it.
Third degree burns on his hand, second degree from his wrist to his elbow…
“Through an extensive literary review, the authors noted that wolverine reproduction is confined to a brief period of the year,…”
Through an extensive literary review, indeed. Sounds like a high school sophomore term paper which had been neglected until the weekend before it was due. In about 5 minutes, I did a more extensive literary review of the studies in Yellowstone, Glacier and Canada and still had time to call my old trapper buddy to find out if he caught a wolverine last winter. He did. He does his reviews on snowshoes, but will not reveal the population densities of his chosen trapping areas. Let the remonstrations begin.
Pamela Gray
July 15, 2012 at 7:50 am
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Many so called experts are idiots who have never been able to overcome the damage their thought processes sustained while perusing their degree. On the other hand, there are also quite a few wolverine researchers who do have a clue, though most of these are still a little moonbatty. These are the ones who, even at the age of 50, spend the harshest part of the winter on top of glaciers (BTW, I have never heard of any of the authors of this paper in association with wolverines. It looks like all they did was to scan published research looking for an AGW tie-in from the comfort of a warm office). Most of this group will admit that no one knows what the current range of wolverines is and are not surprised at reports of sightings well outside their known range. After all, a wolverine can travel 50 KM in a day over the most rugged territory this continent has, during the dead of winter. It should be a no brainer that they would be showing up in the Wallowa Mountains.
Wolverines are rather difficult to trap, but trapping is a lot easier then releasing them!
I blame wolverine decline on buckwheat and radish growers.
I know it’s true for University of Michigan students…
I’m going to have to do all the heavy thinking here. This is a truth – take it to the bank. Wolverines live where they are least stressed. Always have, always will. Same with daffodils. When you have lived among daffodils for a long time you accept this as fact.
Spot quiz: After the climate boils the oceans, wolverines will live where? Guy in the back says “where they are least stressed”. Winner. Anyone find fault with that?
It is the same with mountain Shasta daisies, picas, pileated woodpeckers, and alligators. People are a bit different as they tend to gravitate to where they are most likely to copulate and which places anthropologists call “Blue States”. This may also be where they are least stressed and don’t you know we’re only a little grant money away from settled science on that one.
Here is another wolverine factoid: They are difficult to stress. Pretty much anywhere they hang their carrion is home. Snow berms are fine, but these are not timid critters and if they decide that some fresh buffalo liver sounds like a good nightcap that is what they will have. No place to stash the leftovers? No problem – next week’s menu: Canis Lupus. Mmmmmmm. If hungry they will chew the butt off a skunk. There’s probably a genetic lust remaining in their dark hearts for some fresh wooly mammoth. Nothing says yummy like mammoth in the tummy.
These guys survived the LIA, the MWP, the Dalton Minimum, the Spörer Minimum, the Maunder Minimum, innumerable Venus transits of the sun, Pliny the Elder, the Beatles invasion, Maximum Overdrive, and more. They’re in it to win it. We have way more important things to worry about. Like Red Delicious apples. They belong on the endangered species list – the Galas are killing them.
Don’t worry about the poor little wolverines. They are one tough, nasty and psychotic bunch of critters. If worse comes to worse they will just kill a polar bear and eat it 🙂
Seriously a grizzly will back down from a wolverine rather than fight.
If I was a wolverine, I would consider those insects to be just another crunchy topping to add exotic flavor to my rotting moose carcass; food diversity I calls it, and they can help me get rid of some of that fur that gets stuck in my teeth, while trying to get to the guts.
But I’ll make a note of your concern, and be sure I kill an extra elk or caribou; maybe a moose so those feisty bacteriums don’t go hungry either, while the missus is busy lactating; with the young’uns.
djaces says:
July 14, 2012 at 12:20 pm
There is something to be said for providing the necessary funding to send a large number of these folks out to research the wolverine in its natural habitat….these folks seem to have developed their entire concept of Nature from too many repeat viewings of “Bambi” …having large numbers of them blundering about in pursuit of wolverines will greatly enhance the opportunities for “The Darwin Effect” to come into play i.e. Nature weeding out the stupid…..
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Best suggestion I have seen all day. Instead of repeated viewings of ‘Bambi” their parents should have made them watched Lake Placid instead as an antidote.
My good brother, who is generally an environmentalists, said that the deer problem in urban areas is a result of people’s image of Bambi when it should be of a horned monster. That was after deer ate the tops o fhis pea plants. 🙂