San Francisco State University
Department of Geography Geography 316: Biogeography The Biogeography of Gulo gulo ( wolverine by C. Breen, student in Geography 316, Fall 2000
Wolverine Figure 1. Gulo gulo in snow. Photo by Gerald and Buff Corsi, California
Academy of Sciences, 1999.
Taxonomic Classification of Gulo gulo (Linnaeus, 1758) Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae Subfamily: Mustelinae
Genus: Gulo
Species: Gulo gulo (Ewer 1973) Ernest Thompson Seton, 1953 Description of Species: Gulo gulo The average length of a wolverine is 36 inches; their height at the shoulder is, on average, 12 inches (Seton 1974). There is sexual dimorphism in the animal, with typical females weighing 17-22 pounds and males weighing up to 45 pounds (Jameson and Peeters 1998). They have a compact, powerful build and carry the head and tail lower than their arched back. Murray (1987) notes that their short legs, lumbering gait, and heavy body gives a false impression of clumsiness. Wolverine have powerful jaws, and their teeth are sharp and strong enough to chew through bone and frozen carrion (Sleeper 1995). They have 38 teeth with a dental formula of incisor 3/3, canine1/1, premolar 4/4, and molar 1/2 (Ewer 1973). Apparently their deep growls and rumbling vocalizations are quite ferocious-sounding. Stuebner (1997) notes that they are equipped with grizzly bear-like vocal cords that serve as a defensive bluffing device for scaring away larger predators. | |
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