Wolverines!

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by visceral_instinct, Nov 28, 2009.

  1. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    I knew there was a reason I have a fixation with these creatures:

    Here is a Youtube of one fighting a wolf much bigger than itself:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFKXrS6m73o&feature=related

    Ya gotta admire that creature. Fairly small, but vicious as all hell and doesn't take any crap.
     
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  3. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    Nope, you would rather meet a wolf pack in the forest than one of those things.
     
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  5. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    Probably literally. A wolf pack will turn away from one unaided mother bear shielding her cub if she stays still and stares them down. Wolverines don't exactly do running away.
     
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  7. deicider got omnicidead Registered Senior Member

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    there was a weasel a wolf and a bear...one of them goes: "what the heck guys,lets do threesome"
    And thats how wolverine was born,the end.
     
  8. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Poor Wolverine though. I think it took quite some damage.
    The wolf gave up because it took him too much energy, it wasn't worth it in the end.
     
  9. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    Yeah

    From what I could see, the wolf gave up cos the wolverine tore his mouth up, did you see the wound on its muzzle?
     
  10. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    The tail wagging kind of puts different spin on it.

    They looked like they knew each other. I've seen play fights that look like that. The only thing is I never heard of anyone keeping a pet wolverine.
     
  11. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    I saw the wound on its muzzle, but it seemed to me that the wolf had a hold of the wolverines head (I think) for most of the video.
     
  12. jpappl Valued Senior Member

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    Yeah, it looked liked the wolverine didn't have much left. That small wound on the wolf is nothing.

    Since they are not predator/prey, there is no reason to kill the wolverine, most of the time, these predators just want to scare each other away.
     
  13. nietzschefan Thread Killer Valued Senior Member

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    Unless you are hunting and are going to pickup your kill, you are very unlikely to run across these.

    Weasel are stronger pound for pound.
     
  14. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    They seem to contradict the old rote about animals displaying to avoid conflict. Is a group somehow more fit - or can they stay reasonably fit - if they just always respond on one extreme of an evolutionary contest? (I.e.: "Hawk" in Hawk vs. Dove.)
     
  15. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    How much is true of the fast healing ability these animals are supposed to possess?
     
  16. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    I don't think they actually have superior healing ability. I'll google..
     
  17. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    Nope, can't find anything that says they have superior healing..
     
  18. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    The wolverine is a mustelid, a member of the weasel family. This is one of the most species-rich families of mammals, and also includes otters, badgers, polecats, martens, ferrets, minks and stoats.

    Mustelids are members of the order Carnivora, which also includes bears, canids, felids, hyenas, civets, skunks, mongooses, pandas, raccoons and pinnipeds.
     
  19. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    I love mustelids in general, but these creatures are my favourite species.

    Otters are cute too.
     
  20. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I've never seen a river otter, but sea otters are adorable!
     
  21. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    I once camped with a guy who claimed, credibly, to have raced a river otter while ice skating. He was skating on clear ice on a wide spot in a mid-sized stream in Michigan, and the otter tracked directly under his skates while swimming upside down under the ice, for the length of the pool.

    Another account: a guy (different camping trip) bicycling down a logging road comes up on an otter, which instead of leaving the road stands up on its hind legs and watches him pass not three feet away, sniffing the air and twitching its whiskers. He thought it had never seen a bicyclist before, and didn't know what he was.

    I see them always in the early morning, around sunrise or just before, in groups of three to five in the water, passing through - they come over and check me out, chirr and whistle and "blow" and pop up and down, and roll off in a series of dives and surfacing look-backs. It's always a surprise.

    They leave bounding, sliding, intricately playful tracks in the snow; their paths full of loops and scoots and double backs and tussle marks. I have seen these tracks on the river under the main freeway bridge over the Mississippi from downtown Minneapolis, left the night before.

    They are a solid, muscular, strong animal, heavier than they look - unlike a lot of winter footpads, they are not a light thing buried in a fluffy cush of fur. And those teeth are serious, the jaw robust. The family vibe resemblance to a wolverine sometimes flashes for a second or two, when they are close. I would not contest a fish kill with even just one of them.
     

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