Thursday, March 5, 2026

How much longer can Wolverines last? Only 13,000 or so left in the wild

wow.... I saw one on the latest ALONE episode but that was in Alaska....last long-term Wolverine population in Minnesota was 1899... extirpated.
estimate of 488 wolverines on the North Slope, ... that earlier estimate was for a North Slope population of at least 821...
  Caribou make up a lot of the diet of North Slope wolverines, and the caribou population declines of recent years may have affected wolverines, they said....
Habitat degradation and fragmentation led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife last year to classify the Lower 48 wolverine population as  threatened
Canada hosts a major portion of the global wolverine population, with estimates suggesting over 10,000 mature individuals, primarily in the western and northern regions. While populations are generally stable in the north, they are declining in southern areas like the BC/Alberta mountains due to habitat loss and climate .... but population densities vary a lot and numbers are difficult to estimate.
 Present populations are found only in the central to northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia
Maybe about 3000 in Europe....
 
a global population of roughly 13,700 wolverines is considered a
vulnerable, declining, and fragmented population
wolverine range and populations have shrunk dramatically over the last century, primarily due to trapping and habitat loss and fragmentation. 
Exploitation was inferred as a major driver of declines; halving the current trapping mortality was recommended (Mowat et al., 2020) and regionally adopted – one of the very few recent wolverine conservation actions in Canada. Alberta’s harvest quota of one per trapline (plus one incidental) has never been investigated; very low occupancy and densities (Fisher et al., 2013, Heim et al., 2017, Mowat et al., 2020) suggest it is unsustainable in some areas.
  Hunters and trappers in Alaska harvest about 550 wolverines each year.
In Scandinavian countries they lose domestic sheep and reindeer to wolverines, and the government provides compensation to herders. 
Wolverine fur is primarily bought by
specialized furriers, international auction houses, and, for raw pelts, Arctic/sub-Arctic indigenous communities for use as frost-resistant parka trim. Key buyers include Wolverine Furs (Detroit), Mano Swartz Furs (MD)


No comments:

Post a Comment