Characteristics of dispersal in wolverines

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Authors: Vangen, Knut Morten, Persson, Jens, Landa, Arild, Andersen, Roy, Segerström, Peter
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2001
• Subjects: Gulo gulo
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z01-124; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z01-124

We studied patterns of dispersal and sizes of home ranges of juvenile wolverines (Gulo gulo). Mean dispersal age was 13 months for both male (n = 11) and female (n = 9) wolverines. Females displayed more variation in dispersal age (7–26 months) than males (7–18 months). Of the animals used in the dispersal analyses, all males and 69% of females dispersed. All sedentary females (n = 4) occupied their mother's territory when she died or shifted territory, and no females dispersed from a territory vacated by their mother. Competition for resources seemed to determine the female dispersal pattern, while competition for mates seemed to explain the male dispersal pattern. Dispersal distances averaged 51 km for males and 60 km for females. However, this is likely to be an underestimation. Eight cases of exploratory movements were observed, and on average, these immediately preceded dispersal movements. The size of juvenile home ranges of males (85 km 2 ) and females (81 km 2 ) corresponded to the home-range area of denning females during the summer period. Wolverines have the capacity to recolonize gaps in the present distribution of the species in Scandinavia. Other factors, therefore, most likely explain the large proportion of vacant wolverine habitats.