- Vyberian Wolverine -

Vyberian Wolverine
Categories: Flora and Fauna

This article was written by Vyberia

The Vyberian Wolverine (/ˈwʊlvəriːn/) (also spelled wolverene), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids. A solitary animal, it 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 Vyberian wolverine is found primarily in remote reaches of the Northern boreal forests and subarctic and alpine tundra of the Northern Territories of Vyberia. Its population has steadily declined since the 19th century owing to trapping, range reduction and habitat fragmentation.

The location of Wolverine population.

The natural habitat of the species live primarily in isolated boreal, and alpine regions of northern Vyberia.

Behavior, Diet & Hunting

Wolverines are considered to be primarily scavengers. A majority of the wolverine's sustenance is derived from carrion, on which it depends almost exclusively in winter and early spring. Wolverines may find carrion themselves, feed on it after the predator (often, a pack of wolves) has finished, or simply take it from another predator. Wolverines are also known to follow wolf and lynx trails, purportedly with the intent of scavenging the remains of their kills. Whether eating live prey or carrion, the wolverine's feeding style appears voracious, leading to the nickname of "glutton" (also the basis of the scientific name). However, this feeding style is believed to be an adaptation to food scarcity, especially in winter.

The wolverine is also a powerful and versatile predator. Prey mainly consists of small to medium-sized mammals, but the wolverine has been recorded killing prey such as adult deer that are many times larger than itself. Prey species include porcupines, squirrels, chipmunks, beavers, marmots, moles, gophers, rabbits, voles, mice, rats, shrews, lemmings, caribou, roe deer, white-tailed deer, mule deer, sheep, goats, cattle, bison, moose, and elk. Smaller predators are occasionally preyed on, including martens, mink, foxes, Eurasian lynx, weasels, and coyote and wolf pups. Wolverines often pursue live prey that are relatively easy to obtain, including animals caught in traps, newborn mammals, and deer (including adult moose and elk) when they are weakened by winter or immobilized by heavy snow. Their diets are sometimes supplemented by birds' eggs, birds (especially geese), roots, seeds, insect larvae, and berries.

Wolverines in Vyberia hunt more actively than their North American relatives. This may be because competing predator populations in Argus are not as dense, making it more practical for the wolverine to hunt for itself than to wait for another animal to make a kill and then try to snatch it. They often feed on carrion left by wolves, so changes in wolf populations may affect the population of wolverines. They are also known on occasion to eat plant material.

Wolverines frequently cache their food during times of plenty. This is of particular importance to lactating females in the winter and early spring, a time when food is scarce.

Conservation

The total wolverine population is not known. The animal exhibits a low population density and requires a very large home range. The wolverine is listed by the Vyberian Natural Science Institute, VNSI as Least Concern because of its "wide distribution, remaining large populations, and the unlikelihood that it is in decline at a rate fast enough to trigger even Near Threatened".

The range of a male wolverine can be more than 620 km2 (240 mi2), encompassing the ranges of several females which have smaller home ranges of roughly 130–260 km2 (50–100 mi2). 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 burrow 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 thawing. This fact has led to concern that global warming will shrink the ranges of wolverine populations.

This requirement for large territories brings wolverines into conflict with human development, and hunting and trapping further reduce their numbers, causing them to disappear from large parts of their former range; attempts to have them declared an endangered species have met with little success. In February 2013, the VNSI proposed giving Endangered Species Act protections to the wolverine due to its habitat in the northern ranges diminishing.