Wolverines? strong, intelligent animals. You can see them with your own eyes in the circus, zoo. You will learn a lot of interesting things about these unique animals by reading this material. Wolverine (in English Wolverine, in Latin Gulo gulo) is a carnivorous mammal that belongs to the weasel family. The name of this animal is translated from Latin as "glutton", and from Norwegian, as "mountain whale".
The habitats of wolverines are forest-tundra, taiga, and sometimes tundra. They live in North America, Eurasia, are found in the Baltic States, Poland, Finland. In Russia, most often individuals can be found in the Far East, in Siberia, but their habitat is also the Novgorod, Pskov regions, the Kola Peninsula, Karelia.
What does the animal wolverine look like: description
Wolverine is a large animal. The body length varies from 70 to 86 cm, and the tail grows to 18-23 cm. The weight of the wolverine is 9-30 kg, and the females are slightly smaller than the males.
The wolverine looks like a large badger or a small bear - it has a clumsy, squat body, its hind legs are longer than the front ones. The feet are wide, with a length of 10 cm, they are 9 cm wide. The animal's muzzle is elongated, the tail is fluffy.
When walking, the animal steps on the entire foot, so the gait of a wolverine is the same as that of a bear, clubfoot. Wolverine's coat is thick, coarse, long hair. The fur is brown-black or brown in color. From the crown, along the shoulders, to the rump, there is a strip of golden or yellow color. The teeth of the animal are sharp, powerful.
Wolverines are divided into 2 subspecies - European and North American.
Wolverine lifestyle
These animals are nocturnal, they sleep during the day, and go hunting at dusk.
Wolverines desperately defend the borders of their territory if they are violated by an individual of the same sex. They settle in rock crevices, under twisted tree roots and in other similar places.
They often change their lodging place in search of prey. But at the same time they try not to go beyond the boundaries of their personal plot, which sometimes extends over 2000 sq. km. Wolverines have excellent hearing, flair, keen eyesight. The animal has long claws and powerful paws, so it is easy for him to climb trees.
Wolverine feeding
Since wolverines are carnivores, their diet mainly consists of animal food. They feed on mouse-like rodents, hazel grouses, black grouses, sometimes on what is left from the hunt of bears and wolves. If the animal has nothing to eat, it can attack the wolf itself (but this is rare) or take away its prey from it, from the lynx.
Sometimes wolverines hunt large ungulates, wounded, sick or young animals become their prey. A wolverine can kill an animal that is 5 times its height! But this happens mainly in winter. High snow cover makes it difficult for animals to move, wolverines take advantage of this and attack their potential prey. These predators are capable of chasing prey for a long time, as they are distinguished by their endurance. In summer, the wolverine is not averse to eating honey, berries, wasp larvae, bird eggs, lemmings (rodents). Like the bear, the wolverine catches fish during spawning or at the wormwood. Moreover, she eats not only fresh, but does not hesitate to eat fish.
Wolverines hunt birds not only when they are on the ground, but also in nests, since these animals, despite their outward clumsiness, perfectly climb trees and cling to the trunk, thick branches. Even a bear tries to avoid an evil and aggressive animal if it meets a wolverine. She can drive the bear away from its own prey and take the trophy for herself.
Although these animals hunt well, they prefer to save energy and, if possible, eat carrion. In this they are also similar to bears.
Breeding wolverines
During the mating season, the rats cease to lead a solitary lifestyle. The mating season for these animals lasts from April to October, but the most intense breeding season occurs in April - June.
At this time, individuals are intensively looking for a partner. Sometimes animals mate several times in a row. The initial stage of pregnancy in wolverines is very interesting. This period is called the open stage. In almost all other animals, the fertilized egg attaches to the wall of the uterus, begins to divide and develop intensively here. In wolverines, it moves freely in the uterus for some time without developing. This latent stage allows baby wolverines to be born at the most appropriate time of the year - in January - April. This usually happens every 2 years.
The female is preparing for childbirth. To do this, she prepares a long spacious den in a hollow of a tree, under a rock or in a snowdrift, buries food for herself next to it. Usually 2-3 babies are born, but sometimes up to five. They are born blind, but covered with thick wool, so they do not freeze in the cold, and their mother warms them up with her warmth. She rarely leaves the den within 2-3 weeks after giving birth, since during this period she intensively feeds the babies with her milk and protects them. She herself feeds on what she brought as trophies to the den even before giving birth.
Three weeks later, she begins to walk not far away to hunt small animals, birds, which she brings to her puppies. When they are 8-10 weeks old, the mother begins to take them out of the den and teaches them to hunt on their own.
Can wolverines be kept at home?
When solving this question, do not forget that wolverines are rather large predators. It's even scary to imagine what they can do if they are offended by a person or behave in such a way as to anger the beast.
It is believed that if you take an animal in infancy, it can be tamed. But, of course, you need to keep the wolverines in cages and let them go for a walk in the fenced aviary, observing all safety rules. However, it is better to leave the maintenance and taming of wolverines to professional zoologists, who are well aware of all the subtleties of this difficult matter, will be able to feed the animal correctly and provide the individual with the space necessary for its full life.
Wolverines have another interesting property that makes it difficult to keep them at home. Like skunks, in times of danger or fright, wolverines can release a foul-smelling jet. Experienced hunters say that if this stream falls on hunting dogs, they can lose the sharpness of their instincts. If a wolverine marks a person with this secret, the smell can last up to ten days.
Therefore, it is better to watch this animal from TV screens, in the zoo - it is much safer than deciding to buy an animal to your home.
Video how a wolverine saves a man
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