Even at full capacity, wolverine habitat in the Yellowstone area would support too few females to maintain viability without genetic exchange with peripheral populations. Wolverine populations in the US Rockies are likely to be genetically interdependent. The other two males, both originally captured by the Wildlife Conservation Society, dispersed from west and south of the park: M557 established a home range north of the park in 2009 M556 became the first confirmed wolverine in Colorado in 90 years. The average annual range for the two monitored females was 172 mi 2 (447 km 2) for three males, 350 mi 2 (908 km 2). A second group, which included researchers from the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, and the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, which surveyed the eastern part of the park and adjoin- ing national forest from 2006 to 2009, documented seven wolverines. A group sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Society has documented ranges that extend into Yellowstone National Park along the northwest and southwest boundary. In the Greater Yellowstone Area, wolverines have been studied using live traps, telemetry, and aerial surveys. Some population recovery has occurred, but the species has not been documented recently in major portions of its historic range. In recent years, NPS staff have documented some individual wolverines through tracks and remote camera footage obtained from other wildlife monitoring programs.Ĭommercial trapping and predator control efforts substantially reduced wolverine distribution in the lower 48 states by the 1930s. On March 5, 2022, a wolverine was photographed by a park visitor along the Northeast Entrance Road corridor. Climate change and habitat fragmentation are chief threats to this species. A series of court cases over the last decade have resulted in restoration of ESA threatened status in 2022, with a review status under way to finalize listing. Since 2013, the wolverine has fluctuated between being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to having no federal protections. Den in deep snow, under log jams, and uprooted trees in avalanche chutes. Females give birth in dens excavated in snow. Breed April to October one litter of 2–4 young each year.Active year-round, intermittently throughout the day.Eat burrowing rodents, birds, eggs, beavers, squirrels, marmots, mice, and vegetation (including whitebark pine nuts). 2006–2009: seven documented in eastern Yellowstone and adjoining national forests (two females, five males).
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