WEASEL FAMILY 



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The Wolverene, also known as the Glutton and 

 Carcajou, has been the subject of more legends 

 and quaint stories than almost any other animal. 

 According to the Indians, it is inhabited by an 

 evil spirit. The French Canadian also gave it 

 strange characteristics, under the name of Carca- 

 jou. In fact, the myths clustering about this 

 animal date back as early as the sixteenth 

 century, in Europe. Olaus Magnus (1562), to 

 whom is comnionlv attributed the earliest men- 



a ravenous monster of insatiate voracity, match- 

 less strength, and supernatural cunning, a terror 

 to all other beasts, the bloodthirsty master of the 

 forest. 



These stories are highly absurd, says Coues, 

 who describes the W'olverene as " simply an 

 uncommonly large, clumsy, shaggy Marten or 

 Weasel, of great strength, without correspond- 

 ing agility, highly carnivorous, like the rest of its 

 tribe, and displaying great perseverance and 



Photograph by American Museum of Natural History 



WOLVERENE 



The Wolverene is thought by Indians and trappers to be possessed of an evil spirit, such demoniacal cunning 

 does it exhibit. Many legends cluster about the Glutton, or Carcajou, as it is also called 



tion, gives a most extraordinary account, made 

 up of the then current popular traditions and 

 superstitions, and tales of hunters or travelers, 

 unchecked by any proper scientific inquiry : al- 

 though, to do him justice, he does not entirely 

 credit them himself. We may be sure that such 

 savory morsels of animal biography did not 

 escape the notice of subsequent compilers, and 

 that they lost nothing of their flavor at the 

 hands of Buffon. Probably no youth's early 

 conceptions of the Glutton were uncolored with 

 romance ; the general picture impressed upon 

 the susceptible mind of that period being that of 



sagacity in procuring food in its northern resi- 

 dence when the supply is limited or precarious, 

 often making long uninterrupted journeys, al- 

 though so short-legged. It is imperfectly planti- 

 grade, and does not climb trees like most of its 

 allies. It lives in dens or burrows, and does not 

 hibernate. It feeds upon the carcasses of large 

 animals which it finds already slain, but does not 

 destroy such creatures itself, its ordinary prey 

 being of a much humbler character. It is a 

 notorious thief, not only of stores of meat and 

 fish laid up by the natives of the countries it 

 inhabits, the baits of their traps, and the animals 



