Greater Yellowstone Wolverine Program

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Rare Wild Wolverine Video

Fierce but vulnerable
Fierce and fearless, this is the common image of wolverines.  But this is only part of the story.  To help save these remarkable animals, Wildlife Conservation Society wildlife biologists are conducting the most intensive study of the wolverines of Greater Yellowstone to date.  Of the many lessons we’ve learned, one stands out above all the rest … as fearless and fierce as wolverines are as individuals, their population in the GYE is incredibly vulnerable.  We are in danger of losing this icon of the wild, high Rockies of Greater Yellowstone.The Wildlife Conservation Society is working to ensure that this does not happen.

Filling an information gap
Before 2001, little was known about the wolverines of Greater Yellowstone.  Lack of reliable information on such basics as population size, reproductive rate, threat types and severity, and habitat and habitat connectivity needs, was hindering conservation efforts.  To address this information gap, in 2001, the Wildlife Conservation Society initiated our Greater Yellowstone Wolverine Conservation Program.  Since then we have conducted the most intensive study of the Greater Yellowstone wolverine population to date.  Using radio telemetry and global positioning systems (GPS) technology, along with many hours spent tracking wolverines through the snow; we have gathered data needed to help fill the information gap.  In doing so, we’ve learned that wolverine habitats are scattered in ‘island-like’ fashion along the tops of the mountain ranges of Greater Yellowstone, that to find food in these harsh habitats wolverines must routinely travel incredible distances across rugged terrain along and between mountain ranges (wolverine home range sizes are as large or larger than those of grizzly bears --- and wolverines are less than a tenth the size of grizzlies), and that young wolverines, as they leave their maternal home range, travel even more incredible distances --- we tracked one young male as he traveled more than 550 miles across Greater Yellowstone in less than six weeks to find a home of his own --- not bad for an animal that weighs less than 30 lbs!
   
Conservation need
To survive, wolverines must travel great distances and this makes them vulnerable.  As more homes and roads are built in the valleys of Greater Yellowstone, mountain ranges become more isolated and valleys more difficult to cross.  As the valleys surrounding Greater Yellowstone are filled, Greater Yellowstone becomes more isolated. The wolverines of the GYE cannot survive as a viable population isolated from the rest of their kind.  To save these fierce but vulnerable wanderers, we must protect not only their highland homes, but also the lower elevation pathways they need to travel within the GYE and beyond.

WCS Conservation efforts
Research
• Survey mountain ranges predicted to be habitat in order to determine whether
  wolverines are actually present and reproducing.
• Continue to amass data on reproductive and survival rates that can be used
  in population viability assessments and other management decisions.
• Complete an assessment of key linkage areas using habitat modeling and genetic
  information.
Actions
• Work with USFS to protect key habitats, especially maternal den sites
• Work with state and federal agencies to coordinate wolverine conservation across
  Greater Yellowstone
• Work with land trusts, county planning departments, and private landowners to protect
  wolverine pathways

 

 

Rare Wild Wolverine Video Footage
Video footage of wild wolverines is extremely rare.  The following was obtained high in the mountains of southwestern Montana.  A wolverine called F105 killed an elk calf and struggled to drag it uphill to a rendezvous site where her cubs were stashed.  Video footage was taken by R.M. Inman and T. McCue of the Greater Yellowstone Wolverine Program.

Wolverine Rendezvous Video (Compressed - 8MB Window Media Movie File)