Wolverine : The "real" wolverine, every thing you need to know

Most of you folks must have heard about the popular movie franchise "The X-men" in which there is a very popular character named "wolverine", which some says defines or represents  the whole franchise. But do know this character is literally named after an animal in the wild called wolverine?. Well let see how much is the real life wolverine is comparable to it's movie counterpart or we can say the, movie illustrated human counterpart.

Gulo gulo (Wolverine)

General Info

Wolverine is an Omnivore mammal which is also known by other names like quick hatch, skunk bear, carcajou and glutton. They have a lifespan of 7 to 14 years (8 to 10 years in the wild). They are small bear like animals with muscular body covered by black-brown hairs. They are mainly found in isolated southern Arctic and northern regions of northern Canada but they are also found in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, far east region of Russia and north-east region of china and Mongolia. Wolverines are mostly scavengers, that is, they mostly acquire the food from the dead animals or animal carcasses but they are also occasional plant material consumers. Despite of this, they are also skillful and agile predators. Their prey consists of small and medium sized animals like lynx, rabbits, porcupines, squirrels and wolf pups. During winters, they more likely consume light food source such as berries and bird eggs.  Their common enemies are wolves, bears and cougars (less likely to hunt wolverines). Because of they versatile body structure and strong claws (like it's movie counterpart), they are excellent runners, climbers and swimmers all at the same time. 

They are estimated to be around 15,000 to 32,000 wolverine species around the world with the majority of distribution observed in Canada. However, the exact population estimation is still unknown.

Physical Overview

Wolverines body consists of  medium sized skeletal structure with small limbs and well rounded and wide skull and ears.They have a thick dark fur on their body which is of highly hydrophobic nature (water repelling nature). They can be compared to a medium sized dog in terms of size. They have a strong upper molar (front teeth) in the mouth which helps them to rip of the flesh of the body of their food/body is frozen or of hard skin. Their length varies from 6 to 10 (~0.15 to 0.25 meters) inches from head to tail depending upon the region they are living in and the gender. Considering this range, the males are twice in size as compared to females (30%  more larger) therefore they also weigh more than the females. Their weight can vary from 6 to 25 Kg (~13 to 55 pounds) in females whereas male wolverines can gain up to 32 to 35 Kg (~70 to 77 pounds) of weight. They have medium bite force of around 224 newtons per sq meter (0.0325 psi). They can reach a speed of  30 miles per hour (50 Km per hour).

Behavior and lifestyle

As it's movie counterpart, they live in difficult and harsh arctic climates making their body to adapt and lifestyle to be more keened and sharp. They are moderately aggressive in nature but can be really deadly if disturbed. Since they are fairly rare, they are difficult to be found and because of their aggressive nature they are difficult to study and observe.

They have a strong body odor which they use to mark their territories and identify each other. They generally live alone, they are only found in small group during mating season. They are quite smart creatures and always remain attentive with respect to their surroundings. They travel nearly 13 to 15 miles (~20 to 24 Km) everyday in search of food.  

The female wolverines mostly live with it's babies in a den which is made by the female herself. Female dig these holes in order to protect their babies from the predators. These dens can be anywhere between 14 to 15 feet (~4.2 to 4.5 meters) in length/depth. In the terms of parenting, both female as well as male wolverines are good parents and protect and look after their babies.

Reproduction

The mating seasons for wolverines starts from the summer. However, the development of embryo starts in the winter season is the fetus is gets matured later. The female wolverine gives birth to it her babies only if the availability of food is good enough in order to provide the proper nourishment for the babies after the birth (in the winter season). The gestation period is of 30 to 50 days and female give birth to usually 2 to 3 kits (babies of wolverine are referred as kits).

The dominant male can mate with 2 to 3 females. The males often visit their babies (offspring/kits) after the babies reach the age of at least 10 weeks (around 92 days). After the kids are about 6 months of age, they sometime travel with their father for sometime. At the age of about 2 years, the kits themselves attains the stage of reproductive maturity. After this period they become capable enough to hunt, survive and mate.

Facts and summary

• Wolverine are Omnivores.

• They are naturally made for cold weather conditions.

• They have pretty foul and sharp body odor.

• Wolverine travel up to 15 miles (~20 to 24 Km) everyday in search of food.

• They have a keen sense of smell and can locate it's prey undergoing hibernation even in thick deep snow surface.

• They are often mistaken with other animals like small bear, otters and honey badgers. This is because they are look similar to these animals.

• They are fairly rare in population (15,000 to 32,000).

• They are aggressive in nature.

• Male wolverines are almost twice in term of both size and weight as compared to female wolverines.
• They provide quite good parenting to their babies.

• Babies of wolverines are called as "kits".

• Their fur is hydrophobic in nature (water repelling nature).

• Wolverine is the largest land animal in the Mustelidae family.

• Wolverines have a great nose and sharp ears but they do not have a strong vision.

• Wolverines were first sighted near 1995 near Winnemucca Lake and at Toe jam lake in 1996 north of Yosemite border. The first confirmed was recorded in 2004 in Michigan.

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