Anyone seen a lost wolverine? Wouldn’t this be an awesome observation if this is already your beat?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/28/us/wolverine-spotting-washington-trnd/index.html
6 Likes
That’s a mighty interesting observation. I took a look at iNat observations; there are none on the Olympic Peninsula. I wonder if there is a population in the Olympic Mountains?
1 Like
Nope, no wolverines in the Olympics! I don’t believe there has ever been a population there. Wolverines have only recently been making a comeback in the Cascade Mountains in Washington and are still quite rare. This one would have had to travel a long way. What a remarkable sighting!
2 Likes
I did a cursory check and found this writeup that confirms what you said including maps of historical observations. It alos indicates that wolverines depend on the presence of spring snow cover.
https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi114.pdf
The National Park Service also confirms that:
“… wolverine, grizzly bears, bighorn sheep and historically, mountain goats, did not occur on the Olympic Peninsula.” https://www.nps.gov/olym/learn/nature/animals.htm
And yet, that sure looks like a wolverine!
2 Likes
Well, Naselle isn’t exactly on the Olympic Peninsula, but still not within the historical range of wolverines for sure. And not what is thought to be wolverine habitat! But wolverines were documented breeding around Mt Rainier a couple years ago so I think most scientists are assuming this is a dispersing wolverine from the South Cascades.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.