THE LEOPARD CATS

The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) is a small wild cat of South and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern by IUCN as it is widely distributed but threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range. There are twelve leopard cat subspecies, which differ widely in appearance.^[2]
The leopard cat's name is derived from the leopard-like spots prevalent in all subspecies, but its relation to the leopard is distant.

Characteristics

Skull, as illustrated by N. N. Kondakov.

A leopard cat is about the size of a domestic cat, but more slender, with longer legs and well-defined webs between its toes. Its small head is marked with two prominent dark stripes and a short and narrow white muzzle. There are two dark stripes running from the eyes to the ears, and smaller white streaks running from the eyes to the nose. The backs of its moderately long and rounded ears are black with central white spots. Body and limbs are marked with black spots of varying size and color, and along its back are two to four rows of elongated spots. The tail is about half the size of its head-body length and is spotted with a few indistinct rings near the black tip. The background color of the spotted fur is tawny, with a white chest and belly. However, in their huge range, they vary so much in coloration and size of spots as well as in body size and weight that initially they were thought to be several different species. The fur color is yellowish brown in the southern populations, but pale silver-grey in the northern ones. The black markings may be spotted, rosetted, or may even form dotted streaks, depending on subspecies. In the tropics, leopard cats weigh 0.55 to 3.8 kg (1.2 to 8.4 lb), have head-body lengths of 38.8 to 66 cm (15.3 to 26.0 in), with long 17.2 to 31 cm (6.8 to 12.2 in) tails. In northern China and Siberia, they weigh up to 7.1 kg (16 lb), and have head-body lengths of up to 75 cm (30 in); generally, they put on weight before winter and become thinner until spring.^[3] Shoulder height is about 41 cm (16 in).

Distribution and habitat

 

 Leopard cats are the most widely distributed Asian small cats. Their range extends from the Amur region in the Russian Far East over the Korean Peninsula, China, Indochina, the Indian Subcontinent, to the West in northern Pakistan, and to the south in the Philippines and the Sunda islands of Indonesia. They are found in agriculturally used areas but prefer forested habitats. They live in tropical evergreen rainforests and plantations at sea level, in subtropical deciduous and coniferous forests in the foothills of the Himalayas at altitudes above 1,000 m (3,300 ft).^[3]
In 2009, a leopard cat was camera trapped in Nepal’s Makalu-Barun National Park at an altitude of 3,254 m (10,676 ft). At least six individuals inhabit the survey area, which is dominated by associations of rhododendron, oak and maple.^[4] The highest altitudinal record was obtained in September 2012 at 4,500 m (14,800 ft) in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area.^[5]
In the northeast of their range they live close to rivers, valleys and in ravine forests, but avoid areas with more than 10 cm (3.9 in) of snowfall.^[6] They are rare in Pakistan’s arid treeless areas.^[7] In Afghanistan, they were reported in the 1970s from Jalalkot and Norgul in the Kunar Valley, and the Waygul forest of Dare Pech.^[8]
In Sabah’s Tabin Wildlife Reserve leopard cats had average home ranges of 3.5 km² (1.4 sq mi).^[9] In Thailand’s Phu Khieu Wildlife Reserve 20 leopard cats were radio-collared between 1999 and 2003. Home ranges of males ranged from 2.2 km² (0.85 sq mi) to 28.9 km² (11.2 sq mi), and of the six females from 4.4 km² (1.7 sq mi) to 37.1 km² (14.3 sq mi).^[10]

Distribution of subspecies

Illustration of Javan leopard cat from Richard Lydekker's "A hand-book to the Carnivora", 1896

Tsushima leopard cat

As of 2009, the following subspecies are recognized:^[2][11]

• P. b. bengalensis (Kerr, 1792) — ranges from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, to Indochina and Yunnan in China;^[12]
• P. b. javanensis (Desmarest, 1816) — inhabits Java and Bali;^[13]
• P. b. sumatranus (Horsfield 1821) — inhabits Sumatra and Tebingtinggi;^[13]
• P. b. chinensis (Gray 1837) — lives in Taiwan and China except Yunnan;^[12]
• P. b. horsfieldi (Gray 1842) — ranges in Kashmir, Punjab, Kumaon, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan;^[12]
• Amur leopard cat P. b. euptilurus/euptilura (Elliott 1871) — is distributed in eastern Siberia, Manchuria, Korea^[12] and on the Tsushima Island;^[14]
• P. b. borneoensis (Brongersma 1936) — inhabits Borneo;^[13]
• P. b. trevelyani (Pocock 1939) — lives in northern Kashmir and Punjab, and in southern Baluchistan;^[12]
• P. b. alleni (Sody, 1949) — inhabits Hainan Island;
• Iriomote cat P. b. iriomotensis (Imaizumi, 1967) — is found exclusively on the tiny island of Iriomote, one of the Ryukyu Islands in the Japanese Archipelago;^[15]
• P. b. heaneyi (Groves 1997) — inhabits the Philippine island of Palawan;^[13]
• Visayan leopard cat P. b. rabori (Groves 1997) — inhabits the Philippine islands of Negros, Cebu, and Panay.^[13]

The Iriomote cat has been proposed as a species since 1967, but following mtDNA analysis in the 1990s it is now considered a subspecies of the leopard cat.^[2][16]
The Tsushima leopard cat lives exclusively on Tsushima Island. Initially regarded as belonging to the Chinese leopard cat subspecies, it is now considered an isolated population of the Amur leopard cat P. b. euptilurus/euptilura.^[17] The Japanese name for the Tsushima leopard cat is Tsushima Yamaneko.^[18]

Ecology and behavior

An alert leopard cat

Leopard cats are solitary, except during breeding season. Some are active during the day, but most hunt at night, preferring to stalk murids, tree shrews and hares. They are agile climbers and quite arboreal in their habits. They rest in trees, but also hide in dense thorny undergrowth on the ground.^[10] In the oil palm plantations of Sabah, they have been observed up to 4 m (13 ft) above ground hunting rodents and beetles. In this habitat, males had larger home ranges than females, averaging 3.5 km² (1.4 sq mi) and 2.1 km² (0.81 sq mi) respectively. Each male's range overlapped one or more female ranges.^[19]
Leopard cats can swim, but seldom do so. They produce a similar range of vocalisations to the domestic cat. Both sexes scent mark their territory by spraying urine, leaving faeces in exposed locations, head rubbing, and scratching.^[3]

Diet

Leopard cats are carnivorous, feeding on a variety of small prey including mammals, lizards, amphibians, birds and insects. In most parts of their range, small rodents such as rats and mice form the major part of their diet, which is often supplemented with grass, eggs, poultry, and aquatic prey. They are active hunters, dispatching their prey with a rapid pounce and bite. Unlike many other small cats, they do not "play" with their food, maintaining a tight grip with their claws until the animal is dead. This may be related to the relatively high proportion of birds in their diet, which are more likely to escape when released than are rodents.^[3]

Reproduction and development

There is no fixed breeding period in the southern part of its range; in the colder northern range they tend to breed around March or April, when the weather is mild enough to support newborn kittens. The estrus period lasts for 5–9 days.^{[citation needed]} If the kittens do not survive, the female may come into heat again and have another litter that year.
After a gestation period of 60–70 days, two to four kittens are born in a den, where they remain until they are a month old. The kittens weigh about 75 to 130 grams (2.6 to 4.6 oz) at birth and usually double their weight by age of two weeks; at five weeks, they are four times their birth weight. The eyes open at ten days, and the kittens start to eat solid food at 23 days. At the age of four weeks, the permanent canines appear, and the kittens begin to eat solid food. Leopard cats have lived for up to thirteen years in captivity.^[3]
Leopard cats usually pair for life and raise their kittens together for about 7 to 10 months.^{[citation needed]} Full maturity is reached at 18 months, but in captivity, the male can become ready to breed at 7 months, and the female at 10 months.

Threats

Skin and skin details from an identification guide for law enforcement agents

In China, leopard cats are hunted mainly for their fur. Between 1984 and 1989, about 200,000 skins were exported yearly. A survey carried out in 1989 among major fur traders revealed more than 800,000 skins on stock. Since the European Union imposed an import ban in 1988, Japan has become the main buyer, and imported 50,000 skins in 1989.^[20] Although commercial trade is much reduced, the species continues to be hunted throughout most of its range for fur, for food, and as pets. They are also widely viewed as poultry pests and killed in retribution.^[2]
In Myanmar, 483 body parts of at least 443 individuals were observed in four markets surveyed between 1991 and 2006. Numbers were significantly larger than non-threatened species. Three of the surveyed markets are situated on international borders with China and Thailand, and cater to international buyers, although the leopard cat is completely protected under Myanmar's national legislation. Effective implementation and enforcement of CITES is considered inadequate.^[21]

Conservation

A leopard cat at the Bronx Zoo

Prionailurus bengalensis is listed in CITES Appendix II. In Hong Kong, the species is protected under the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance Cap 170. The population is well over 50,000 individuals and, although declining, the cat is not endangered.^[2]
The Tsushima leopard cat is listed as critically endangered on the Japanese Red List of endangered species, and has been the focus of a conservation program funded by the Japanese government since 1995.^[17]

Taxonomic history

In 1792, Robert Kerr first described a leopard cat under the binominal Felis bengalensis in his translation of Carl von Linné’s Systema Naturae as being native to southern Bengal.^[22] Between 1829 and 1922, different authors of 20 more descriptions classified the cat either as Felis or Leopardus.^[12] Owing to the individual variation in fur colour, leopard cats from British India were described as Felis nipalensis from Nepal, Leopardus ellioti from the area of Bombay, Felis wagati and Felis tenasserimensis from Tenasserim. In 1939, Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated them to the genus Prionailurus. The collection of the Natural History Museum in London comprised several skulls and large amounts of skins of leopard cats from various regions. Based on this broad variety of skins, he proposed to differentiate between a southern subspecies Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis from warmer latitudes to the west and east of the Bay of Bengal, and a northern Prionailurus bengalensis horsfieldi from the Himalayas, having a fuller winter coat than the southern. His description of leopard cats from the areas of Gilgit and Karachi under the trinomen Prionailurus bengalensis trevelyani is based on seven skins that had longer, paler and more greyish fur than those from the Himalayas. He assumed that trevelyani inhabits more rocky, less forested habitats than bengalensis and horsfieldi.^[23]
Between 1837 and 1930, skins and skulls from China were described as Felis chinensis, Leopardus reevesii, Felis scripta, Felis microtis, decolorata, ricketti, ingrami, anastasiae and sinensis, and later grouped under the trinomen Felis bengalensis chinensis.^[12] In the beginning of the 20th century, a British explorer collected wild cat skins on the island of Tsushima. Oldfield Thomas classified these as Felis microtis, which had been first described by Henri Milne-Edwards in 1872.^[24]
Two skins from Siberia motivated Daniel Giraud Elliot to write a detailed description of Felis euptilura in 1871. One was depicted in Gustav Radde’s illustration cum description of a wild cat; the other was part of a collection at the Regent's Park Zoo. The ground colour of both was light brownish-yellow, strongly mixed with grey and covered with reddish-brown spots, head grey with a dark-red stripe across the cheek.^[25] In 1922, Tamezo Mori described a similar but lighter grey spotted skin of a wild cat from the vicinity of Mukden in Manchuria that he named Felis manchurica.^[26] Later both were grouped under the trinomen Felis bengalensis euptilura.^[12] In the 1970s and 1980s, the Russian zoologists Geptner, Gromov and Baranova disagreed with this classification. They emphasized the differences of skins and skulls at their disposal and the ones originating in Southeast Asia, and coined the term Amur forest cat, which they regarded as a distinct species.^[27][28] In 1987, Chinese zoologists pointed out the affinity of leopard cats from northern China, Amur cats and leopard cats from southern latitudes. In view of the morphological similarities they did not support classifying the Amur cat as a species.^[29]
The initial binomial euptilura given by Elliott^[25] was eventually changed to euptilurus referring to the ICZN Principle of Gender Agreement; at present, both terms are used.^[30]
Molecular analysis of 39 leopard cat tissue samples clearly showed three clades: a Northern Lineage and Southern Lineages 1 and 2. The Northern Lineage consisted of leopard cats from Tsushima Islands, the Korean Peninsular, the continental Far East, Taiwan, and Iriomote Island. Southern Lineage 1, comprising Southeast Asian individuals, showed higher genetic diversity. Souther Lineage 2 had large genetic distances from other lineages.^[14]

Leopard cat and hybrids as pets

In the USA, P. bengalensis is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1976; except under permit, it is prohibited to import, export, sell, purchase and transport the felid in interstate commerce.^[31]
Keeping a leopard cat as a pet requires a license in most places. License requirements vary by location.^[32]
The Asian leopard cat (P. b. bengalensis) is mated with a domestic cat to produce hybrid offspring known as the Bengal cat. This hybrid is usually permitted to be kept as pet without a license. For the typical pet owner, a Bengal cat should be at least four generations (F4) removed from the leopard cat. The "foundation cats" from the first three filial generations of breeding (F1–F3) are usually reserved for breeding purposes or the specialty-pet home environment.^[33]

THE WOLVERINE

The wolverine /ˈwʊlvəriːn/, Gulo gulo (Gulo is Latin for "glutton"), also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae (weasels). It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids. The wolverine, a solitary animal,^[1] 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 wolverine can be 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. state of Alaska, the Nordic countries of Europe, and throughout western Russia and Siberia. Their populations have experienced a steady decline since the 19th century in the face of trapping, range reduction and habitat fragmentation, such that they are essentially absent in the southern end of their European range.

 

 

 

 

Taxonomy

Wolverine skull from the Pleistocene of Germany at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

Genetic evidence suggests that the wolverine is most closely related to the tayra and martens (scientific names Eira and Martes, respectively), all of which shared a Eurasian ancestor.^[2]
Within the Gulo genus, a clear separation occurs between two subspecies: the Old World form Gulo gulo gulo and the New World form G. g. luscus. Some authors had described as many as four additional North American subspecies, including ones limited to Vancouver Island (G. g. vancouverensis) and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska (G. g. katschemakensis). However, the most currently accepted taxonomy recognizes either the two continental subspecies or recognize G. gulo as a single Holarctic taxon.^[3]
Hall^[who?] regards the North American Wolverine as a species (Gulo luscus) distinct from the Eurasian Wolverine (Gulo gulo).^{[1][verification needed]}
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.^[3]

Physical characteristics

Skull, as illustrated by N. N. Kondakov.

Skeleton

Anatomically, the wolverine is a stocky and muscular animal. With short legs, broad and rounded head, small eyes and short rounded ears, it resembles a bear more than other mustelids. Though its legs are short, its large, five-toed paws and plantigrade posture facilitate movement through deep snow.^[4]
The adult wolverine is about the size of a medium dog, with a length usually ranging from 65–107 cm (26–42 in), a tail of 17–26 cm (6.7–10.2 in), and a weight of 9–25 kg (20–55 lb), though exceptionally large males can weigh up to 32 kg (71 lb).^[5][6][7] The males are as much as 30% larger than the females and can be twice the females' weight. Shoulder height is reported from 30 to 45 cm (12 to 18 in).^[8] It is the largest of terrestrial mustelids; only the marine-dwelling sea otter and giant otter of the Amazon basin are larger.
Wolverines have thick, dark, oily fur which is highly hydrophobic, making it resistant to frost. This has led to its traditional popularity among hunters and trappers as a lining in jackets and parkas in Arctic conditions. A light-silvery facial mask is distinct in some individuals, and a pale buff stripe runs laterally from the shoulders along the side and crossing the rump just above a 25–35 cm (9.8–13.8 in) bushy tail. Some individuals display prominent white hair patches on their throats or chests.^[4]
Like many other mustelids, it has potent anal scent glands used for marking territory and sexual signaling. The pungent odor has given rise to the nicknames "skunk bear" and "nasty cat." Wolverines, like other mustelids, possess a special upper molar in the back of the mouth that is rotated 90 degrees, towards the inside of the mouth. This special characteristic allows wolverines to tear off meat from prey or carrion that has been frozen solid.^[9][10]

Behavior

The wolverine is a powerful and versatile predator and scavenger. 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, beavers, marmots, rabbits, voles, mice, shrews, lemmings, caribou, roe deer, white-tailed deer, mule deer, sheep, moose, and elk.^[11] Smaller predators are occasionally preyed on, including martens, mink, foxes, weasels,^[12] 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. A majority of the wolverine's sustenance is derived from carrion, on which they depend almost exclusively in winter and early spring. Wolverines may find carrion themselves, feed on it after the predator is done feeding (especially wolf packs) or simply take it from another predator. 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.^[13]
Armed with powerful jaws, sharp claws, and a thick hide,^[14] wolverines, like most mustelids, are remarkably strong for their size. They may defend kills against larger or more numerous predators such as wolves or bears.^[15] At least one account reported a wolverine's apparent attempt to steal a kill from a black bear, although the bear won what was ultimately a fatal contest.^[16] In another account, a wolverine attacked a polar bear and clung to its throat until the bear suffocated.^[17][18] While wolverines have dominated wolves in competitions over a carcass, some wolves habitually prey on wolverines and can eradicate them from a given area.^[7]
Wolverines inhabiting the Old World (specifically, Fennoscandia) hunt more actively than their North American relatives.^[19] This may be because competing predator populations in Eurasia 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.^[20] They are also known on occasion to eat plant material.^[21]
Successful males will form lifetime relationships with two or three females, which they will visit occasionally, while other males are left without a mate.^[22] Mating season is in the summer, but the actual implantation of the embryo (blastocyst) in the uterus is stayed until early winter, delaying the development of the fetus. Females will often not produce young if food is scarce. The gestation period is 30–50 days, and litters of typically two or three young ("kits") are born in the spring. Kits develop rapidly, reaching adult size within the first year of a lifespan that may reach anywhere from five to (in exceptional individuals) 13 years.^{[citation needed]} Fathers make visits to their offspring until they are weaned at 10 weeks of age; also, once the young are about six months old, some reconnect with their fathers and travel together for a time.^[22]

Range

Wolverine on rocky terrain

Wolverines live primarily in isolated arctic and alpine regions of northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia; they are also native to European Russia, the Baltic countries, the Russian Far East, northeast China and Mongolia. In 2008 and 2009, wolverines were sighted as far south as the Sierra Nevada, near Lake Tahoe, for the first time since 1922.^[23][24][25] They are also found in low numbers in the Rocky Mountains and northern Cascades of the United States, and have been sighted as far south and east as Michigan.^[26] However, most New World wolverines live in Canada.^[21]

Conservation

 



The world's total wolverine population is not known. The animal exhibits a low population density and requires a very large home range.^[20]
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 nonoverlapping ranges with adults of the same sex.^[10] Radio tracking suggests an animal can range hundreds of miles in a few months.
Female wolverines burrow into snow in February to create a den, which is used until weaning in mid-May. Areas inhabited nonseasonally by wolverines are thus restricted to zones with late-spring snowmelts. This fact has led to concern that global warming will shrink the ranges of wolverine populations.^[22]
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.^[20] In February 2013, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed giving Endangered Species Act protections to the wolverine due to its winter habitat in the northern Rockies diminishing. This was as a result of a lawsuit by brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife.^[27]
The Wildlife Conservation Society reported in June 2009 that a wolverine researchers had been tracking for almost three months had crossed into northern Colorado. Society officials had tagged the young male wolverine in Wyoming near Grand Teton National Park and it had traveled southward for about 500 miles. It was the first wolverine seen in Colorado since 1919, and its appearance was also confirmed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.^[21] In February 2014, a wolverine was seen in Utah, the first confirmed sighting in that state in 30 years.^[28]

Country	Population	Area	Year	State of population
Sweden	265+[4]	Norrbotten[4]	1995–97[4]	Stable[4]
Norway	150+[4]	Snøhetta plateau and North[4]	1995–97[4]	Decline[4]
Finland	155–170[4]	Karelia and North[4]	2008[4]	Stable[4]
Russia	1500[4]	Taiga[4]	1970, 1990,[4]	Decline[4]
Russia – Komi	885[4]	–	1990[4]	–
Russia – Archangelsk Oblast	410[4]	Nenetsky Autonomous Area[4]	1990[4]	Limited[4]
Russia – Kola Peninsula	160[4]	Hunting Districts[4]	1990[4]	Decline[4]
United States – Alaska[29]	Unknown[29]	Kobuk Valley National Park,[29] Selawik National Wildlife Refuge[29]	1998[29]	Decline[29]
United States – Alaska[30]	3.0 (± 0.4 SE) wolverines/1,000 km2[30]	Turnagain Arm and the Kenai Mountains[30]	2004[30]	–[30]
United States – Rocky Mountains[31]	28–52[31]	Montana, Idaho, Wyoming[31]	1989–2007[31]	Unknown[31]
United States – California[32]	3[32]	Tahoe National Forest[32]	2008[32]	Unknown[32]
Canada – Yukon	9.7 (± 0.6 SE) wolverines/1,000 km2[30]	Old Crow Flats[30]	2004[30]	–[30]
Canada – Ontario[33]	Unclear[33]	Red Lake – Sioux Lookout to Fort Severn – Peawanuck[33]	2004[33]	Stable to expanding[33]
Canada – Overall[34]	15,000–19,000[34]	Overall[34]	–[34]	Stable[34]

In captivity

Captive at the Kristiansand Zoo, Norway

Around a hundred wolverines are held in zoos across North America and Europe, and they have been successfully bred in captivity, but only with difficulty and high infant mortality.^[35]

Name

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 animal's name in Old Swedish, fjellfräs, meaning "mountain cat", worked its way into German as Vielfrass, which means roughly "devours much". Its name in other West Germanic languages is similar (e.g. Dutch: veelvraat).
The Finnish name is ahma, derived from ahmatti, which is translated as "glutton". Similarly, the Estonian name is ahm, with the equivalent meaning to the Finnish name. In Lithuanian is ernis, in Latvian—tinis or āmrija.
The Eastern Slavic росомаха (rosomakha) and the Polish and Czech name rosomák seem to be borrowed from the Finnish rasva-maha (fat belly). Similarly, the Hungarian name is rozsomák or torkosborz which means "gluttonous badger".
In French-speaking parts of Canada, the wolverine is referred to as carcajou, borrowed from the Innu-aimun or Montagnais kuàkuàtsheu.^[36] However in France, the wolverine's name is glouton (glutton).
Purported gluttony is reflected neither in English nor in North Germanic languages. The English word wolverine (alteration of the earlier form wolvering of uncertain origin) probably implies "a little wolf". 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.

In culture

The Wolverine pendant of Les Eyzies, when wolverines were still found in southern France

Many cities, teams, and organizations use the wolverine as a mascot. For example, the US state of Michigan is, by tradition, known as "the Wolverine State", and the University of Michigan takes the wolverine as its mascot. The association is well and long established: for example, many Detroiters volunteered to fight during the American Civil War and George Armstrong Custer, who led the Michigan Brigade, called them the "Wolverines". The origins of this association are obscure; it may derive from a busy trade in wolverine furs in Sault Ste. Marie in the 18th century or may recall a disparagement intended to compare early settlers in Michigan with the vicious mammal. Wolverines are, however, extremely rare in Michigan. A sighting in February 2004 near Ubly was the first confirmed sighting in Michigan in 200 years.^[37] The animal was found dead in 2010^[38] and the story recounted in the book The Lone Wolverine.^[39]
The wolverine figures prominently in the mythology of the Innu people of eastern Québec and Labrador. In at least one Innu myth, it is the creator of the world.^[40]
Wolverine is the name of a popular fictional character appearing in X-Men books published by Marvel Comics—named for his highly individualistic and aggressive behavior, as well as his great ferocity despite his small stature.

Film

The 91-minute 1994 motion picture Running Free (also known as One Paw) is about a young boy and his friendship with an Alaskan wolverine. The wolverines seen in the film were born in captivity and directed by a USDA-licensed filmmaker, Steve Kroschel. Many of the wolverine scenes are documentary footage of trained wolverines being filmed in their natural habitat. The movie was screened on 5 October 1994. The American Humane Society was involved before the start of filming and during some of the filming.^[41]
The first full-length nature documentary about wild wolverines, Wolverines – Hyenas of the North, was produced in 2006 by German wildlife film company Gulo Film Productions for German Television (NDR), and has been broadcast in many countries – also under the titles Wolverine X or Wolverine Revealed,^[42] and in the US by Animal Planet as an episode of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. The film by German director Oliver Goetzl shows many different social behaviour aspects of wild wolverines at the Finnish / Russian border area – some of them previously unknown – and has won more than 30 international festival awards and nominations, including at Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Wildscreen Film Festival, IWFF Missoula, Animal Behavior Society Film Festival and Banff World Television Awards.
The PBS series Nature released a documentary, "Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom" as episode #166 on 14 November 2010.^[43] This 53-minute documentary^[44] focuses on the efforts of a number of naturalists in the United States to track wolverines, collect genetic data, and learn more about wolverine populations, individual behavior and social behavior. It also tracks the raising of two male wolverines in captivity at an Alaska nature reserve from birth to maturity, and profiles the naturalists making these efforts.

Gallery

• 
• 
• 

THE AMERICAN BADGER

The American badger (Taxidea taxus) is a North American badger, somewhat similar in appearance to the European badger. It is found in the western and central United States, northern Mexico, and south-central Canada to certain areas of southwestern British Columbia.
American badger habitat is typefied by open grasslands with available prey (such as mice, squirrels, and groundhogs). The species prefers areas such as prairie regions with sandy loam soils where it can dig more easily for its prey.

 

 

Taxonomy

The American badger is a member of the Mustelidae, a diverse family of carnivorous mammals that also includes the weasel, otter, ferret, and wolverine.^[2] The American badger belongs to the Taxidiinae, one of three subfamilies of badgers - the other two being the Melinae (9 species, including the Eurasian badger) and the Mellivorinae (honey badger). The American badger's closest relative is the prehistoric Chamitataxus.
Recognized subspecies include: the nominate subspecies T. t. taxus, found in central Canada and central US; T. t. jacksoni, found in the southern Great Lakes region including southern Ontario; T. t. jeffersoni, in British Columbia and the western US; and T. t. berlandieri, in the southwestern US and northern Mexico.^[3][4] Ranges of subspecies overlap considerably, with intermediate forms occurring in the areas of overlap.
In Mexico, this animal is sometimes called tlalcoyote. The Spanish word for badger is tejón, but in Mexico this word is also used to describe the coati. This can lead to confusion, as both coatis and badgers are found in Mexico.

Description

American badger

The American badger has most of the general characteristics common to badgers; with stocky and low-slung bodies with short, powerful legs, they are identifiable by their huge foreclaws (measuring up to 5 cm in length) and distinctive head markings. Measuring generally between 60 to 75 cm (23.6 to 29.5 inches) in length, males of the species are slightly larger than females (with an average weight of roughly 7 kg (15.5 pounds) for females and up to almost 9 kg (19.8 pounds) for males). Northern subspecies such as T. t. jeffersonii are heavier than the southern subspecies. In the fall, when food is plentiful, adult male badgers can exceed 11.5 kg (25.3 pounds).^[5]
Except for the head, the American badger is covered with a grizzled, brown, black and white coat of coarse hair or fur, giving almost a mixed brown-tan appearance. The coat aids in camouflage in grassland habitat. Its triangular face shows a distinctive black and white pattern, with brown or blackish "badges" marking the cheeks and a white stripe extending from the nose to the base of the head. In the subspecies T. t. berlandieri, the white head stripe extends the full length of the body, to the base of the tail.^[6]

Diet

Skull

The American badger is a fossorial carnivore. It preys predominantly on pocket gophers (Geomyidae), ground squirrels (Spermophilus), moles (Talpidae), marmots (Marmota), prairie dogs (Cynomys), pika (Ochotona), woodrats (Neotoma), kangaroo rats (Dipodomys), deer mice (Peromyscus), and voles (Microtus), often digging to pursue prey into their dens, and sometimes plugging tunnel entrances with objects.^[7] They also prey on ground-nesting birds, such as the bank swallow or sand martin (Riparia riparia) and burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), and lizards, amphibians, carrion, fish, skunks (Mephitis and Spilogale), insects, including bees and honeycomb, and some plant foods such as corn (Zea mais), peas, green beans, mushrooms and other fungi, and sunflower seeds (Helianthus).

Behavior

American badgers are generally nocturnal, but have been reported to be active during the day. In remote areas with no human encroachment, badgers are routinely observed foraging during the day. Seasonally, however, a badger observed during daylight hours in the Spring months of late March to early May often represents a female badger, foraging during daylight to then return and stay with her young at night. Badgers do not hibernate, but may become less active in winter. A badger may spend much of the winter in cycles of torpor that last around 29 hours. They do emerge from their burrows when the temperature is above freezing.^[4]
Badger burrows that are abandoned may then be occupied by foxes, skunks or animals of similar size. Abandoned badger burrows also provide ready-made homes for burrowing owl, California Tiger Salamander and California Red-Legged Frog. A misconception about badgers and coyotes is reflected in the human projected perception that badgers and coyotes form a mutually beneficial relationship in hunting and foraging. In fact, the benefit is for the coyote. Coyotes are not as effective in digging prey out of burrows and will remain in proximity to a foraging badger, to then capture prey if it escapes the badger's claw-paws. Widely reported has been the misconception that badgers and coyotes hunt together. Badgers are solitary foragers and coyotes who observe badgers in the process of seeking prey will position themselves in proximity in order to attempt to capture any prey that eludes a badger in its attempt to escape.

Life cycle

Badgers are normally solitary animals for most of the year, but are thought to expand their territories in the breeding season to seek out mates. Males may breed with more than one female. Mating occurs in late summer and early fall. American badgers experience delayed implantation. Pregnancies are suspended until December or as late as February. Young are born from late March to early April.^[4] Litters range from one to five young,^[8] averaging about three.^[9]
Badgers are born blind, furred, and helpless.^[4] Eyes open at four to six weeks. The female feeds her young solid foods prior to complete weaning, and for a few weeks thereafter.^[9] Young American badgers first emerge from the den on their own at five to six weeks old.^[8][10] Families usually break up and juveniles disperse from the end of June to August; young American badgers leave their mothers as early as late May or June.^[10] Juvenile dispersal movements are erratic.^[8]

American badger at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

Most female American badgers become pregnant for the first time after they are a year old. A minority of females four to five months old ovulate and a few become pregnant. Males usually do not breed until their second year.^[4]
Major causes of adult American badger mortality include, first and foremost, loss of habitat and habitat fragmentation, preventing the ability to move through a normal range, and then automobiles, ranchers and farmers (by various methods), sport shooting, and fur trapping. Identifying habitat areas preferred by adult female badgers for breeding, birthing and raising young are critically important to support biodiversity in the context of climate change impacts, loss of habitat and competition among species for habitat areas as coastal wildlife migrate inland, seeking cooler temperatures in upland habitat areas that often represent established habitat for American Badger. Large predators occasionally kill American badgers.^[8] The average longevity in the wild is 9–10 years and the record is 14 years;^[11] a captive American badger lived at least 15 years and five months.^[8]

Habitat

American badgers occur primarily in grasslands and open areas with grasslands, which can include parklands, farms, and treeless areas with friable soil and a supply of rodent prey.^[12][13] They may also be found in forest glades and meadows, marshes, brushy areas, hot deserts, and mountain meadows. They are sometimes found at elevations up to 12,000 feet (3,600 m) but are usually found in the Sonoran and Transition life zones (which are at elevations lower and warmer than those characterized by coniferous forests).^[9] In Arizona, they occur in desert scrub and semidesert grasslands.^[14] In California, American badgers are primarily able to survive through a combination of open grasslands of agricultural lands, protected land trust and open space lands, and even regional and state and national park lands with grassland habitat. An identified population in South Sonoma County fragilely survives with areas of abundant prey, but threatened from fragmentation. The Sonoma County badger population also includes some protected and private lands near the Sonoma Coast. Badgers are occasionally found in open chaparral (with less than 50% plant cover) and riparian zones. They are not usually found in mature chaparral.^[15] In Manitoba aspen parklands, American badger abundance was positively associated with the abundance of Richardson's ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii).^[16]
American badger use of home range varies with season and sex. Different areas of the home range are used more frequently at different seasons and usually are related to prey availability. Males generally have larger home ranges than females. In a study almost 40 years ago, radiotransmitter-tagged American badgers had an average annual home range of 2,100 acres (850 ha). The home range of one female was 1,790 acres (725 ha) in summer, 131 acres (53 ha) in fall, and 5 acres (2 ha) in winter.^[17] Lindzey reported average home ranges of 667 to 1,550 acres (270–627 ha).^[18] In 2014, severe fragmentation of American Badger habitat from over-development of land and blockage of wildlife movement areas equate to the range of a badger being significantly influenced by available land for habitat and foraging as well as the ability to move within a preferred range. Direct observations in Sonoma County, documenting habitat and badger sightings and foraging, reflect various ranges within the fragmented habitat areas from less than 1/2 mile to approximately 4 miles. Within these areas, the availability of prey and a fresh water source are key factors for the preferred habitat areas and ability to survive. Identifying and conserving habitat areas where there is year-round activity, along with identified burrowing patterns and observations of female badger territory for birthing and raising young have become critical factors in survival of the species.
Estimated density of American badgers in Utah scrub-steppe was one per square mile (2.6 km²), or 10 dens per square mile (assuming a single American badger has 10 dens in current or recent use).^[4]
The American badger in Ontario, is restricted primarily to the extreme southwestern portion of the province – largely along the north shore of Lake Erie in open areas generally associated with agriculture and woodland edges. There have been a few reports from the Bruce-Grey region.^[19]

Plant communities

American badgers are most commonly found in treeless areas, including tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, grass-dominated meadows and fields within forested habitats, and shrub-steppe communities. In the Southwest, plant indicators of the Sonoran and Transition life zones (relatively low, dry elevations) commonly associated with American badgers include creosotebush (Larrea tridentata), junipers (Juniperus spp.), gambel oak (Quercus gambelii), willows (Salix spp.), cottonwoods (Populus spp.), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), grasses, and sagebrushes (Artemisia spp.).^[9]
In Colorado 37 years ago, American badgers were common in grass–forb and ponderosa pine habitats.^[20] In Kansas, they are common in tallgrass prairie dominated by big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans).^[21] In Montana 24 years ago, badgers were present in Glacier National Park in fescue (Festuca spp.) grasslands.^[22] In Manitoba, they occur in grassland extensions within aspen (Populus spp.) parklands.^[16]

Cover requirements

American badgers enlarge foraged out gopher holes or other prey holes or burrows to create a burrow for sleeping and concealment, protection from weather, and natal dens; burrows range from about 4 feet to 10 feet in depth and 4 feet to 6 feet in width. A female American Badger may create 2 to 4 burrows in proximity with a connecting tunnel for concealment and safety for her young. Displaced soil from digging out the burrow characteristically appears in front of the burrow entrance, and a view from a distance reveals a mound-like roof of the burrow, with the living and concealment space created underneath the raised-roof appearing mound. During summer and autumn, badgers range more frequently, with mating season generally in November, and burrowing patterns reflect 1 to 3 burrows may be dug from foraged out prey holes in a day, used for a day to a week, and then abandoned, with possible returns later, and other small wildlife utilizing abandoned burrows in the interim. Where prey is particularly plentiful, they will reuse dens,^[9] especially in the fall, sometimes for a few days at a time. In winter, a single den may be used for most of the season.^[4] Natal dens are dug by the female and are used for extended periods, but litters may be moved, probably to allow the mother to forage in new areas close to the nursery. Natal dens are usually larger and more complex than diurnal dens.^[8]

Predators

The American badger is an aggressive animal and has few natural enemies. Predation on smaller individuals by golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), coyotes,^[4] cougars (Felis concolor), and bobcats (Lynx rufus) have been reported.^[23] Bears (Ursus spp.) and gray wolves (Canis lupus) occasionally kill American badgers.^[8]

Conservation status

In May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed both the Taxidea taxus jacksoni and the T. t. jeffersonii subspecies as an endangered species in Canada.^[24] The California Department of Fish and Game designated the American badger as a California species of special concern.^[25]




 Taxidea taxus

(Schreber, 1778)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^{American badger range}