MAMMALS OF UTAH 141 



colour. Sexes alike. (Seton.) The name "Skunkbear" is 

 commonly used in describing this species in the Rocky 

 Mountain region, because in size, color and shape it resem- 

 bles a cross between a skunk and a black bear. 



Distribution— Boreal North America from the Atlantic 

 to Alaska, south to central and southern Utah. 



Brigham Spencer of Moab, Utah, informs me that in 

 1893 he encountered two adult and two young wolverines 

 on Boulder Mountains, Garfield County, Utah. The animals 

 showed fight to such an extent that he succeeded in pro- 

 curing only one of the four. The last time he saw wolver- 

 ines in Garfield county was in 1897. Theodore Suholser of 

 Logan says that several wolverines have been trapped 

 there, and that there are some yet on the high timber 

 range from Idaho towards the Uintah mountains. He adds : 

 "The wolverines can raise more hell when caught in a trap 

 than any other animal three times its size. It is the strong- 

 est and meanest animal of its size." 



Habits — Despiteful, greedy, almost uncanny in its dia- 

 bolical hindrance of the trapper, the wolverine is unques- 

 tionably one of the most annoying and fierce animals of 

 the woods. In fact John Burton informs me that there 

 is no animal, not even the grizzly, that he would not as soon 

 meet face to face as a female wolverine with her young. 



The individual range and endurance of a wolverine are 

 apparent from the fact that one has been known to carry 

 a heavy trap for six miles. Trappers say that it will sneak 

 after them for sixty miles to steal bait. Each one roams 

 over a territory fifty miles square in winter ; but in summer 

 this is much restricted. 



Near the end of March the species pair, the male after- 

 wards probably assisting with the young. A large nest of 

 dried leaves is usually made in a cavern already used as a 

 winter refuge. The place is quite clean, as wolverines neith- 

 er store food nor leave garbage in their dens. The young, 

 however, may be born in some sheltered hollow or in a hole 

 dug under a big rock by the mother. 



Parturition, following a gestation of sixty days dura- 

 tion, occurs in June from two to five being born. The young 

 are suckled for eight weeks and fed at home until October, 

 after which the whole family hunt together. 



A wolverine rarely climbs, seldom attacks a grown 

 deer and eats what appeals to other carnivora of the same 

 size. By constant gnawing, even after its mouth bleeds, 

 a wolverine will sever a log a foot in diameter and so clever- 

 ly make the cut that the log will fall so as to leave an open- 



