hibernate. It's amazing to see how they move in rugged, remote terrain in 10 to 12 feet
of snow. In summer there are cougar and black bear and bobcat and coyotes and great
horned owls. In winter time, it is only the wolverines."
A wolverine trapped and radio‐collared by Aubry's team covered more than 14 air miles
over the peaks of the North Cascades from a recent Saturday afternoon to Monday,
"and if you were to lay it flat it covered double the distance," Rohrer marveled.
The dominant radio‐collared wolverine in that drainage — dubbed Rocky by the
researchers — has been known to cover the home ranges of two or three females, or
about 700 square miles. "And that's a 30‐pound animal," Rohrer said. "Most dogs are
bigger than that."
And wolverine are ferocious. "When you see one in a live trap you never forget it,"
Rohrer said. "They are growling, trying to bluff you, they are not cowering in the corner,
if you crack open the lid they are charging and coming up to the front, snapping their
jaws and drooling. They put on quite a show."
But hikers have nothing to worry about: Wolverines are primarily carnivorous
scavengers, feasting on a wide variety of foods, including carrion of every type, usually
elk and deer. But they will also take live small mammals, including pikas, marmots,
ground squirrels, porcupines and snowshoe hares. They will sometimes devour bugs,
berries, eggs and roots.
For now, ensuring wolverine survival is about planning for the future, Watkins said, by
preserving and providing safe access to the strongholds the wide‐ranging wolverine are
returning to now. Highway 2, for instance, is a travel corridor wolverines will need to
cross if they are to make it as far south as Mount Rainier. They haven't been seen there
yet, but one lone wolverine already has been documented on Mount Adams.
"For these animals to come back to these places on their own, and take up residence
there again, sticking around, and calling it home," Watkins said, "That is thrilling."
Lynda V. Mapes: 206‐464‐2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com
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CWMP 2012-2013 Winter Field Season Report
