Wildlife and global warming Navigating the Arctic Meltdown

• Main Author: Ken Curtis
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Carcajou; Global warming; Gulo gulo; inuit; Tundra
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.233.4287; http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_policy/science_and_economics/global_warming/navigating_the_arctic_meltdown_wolverine.pdf

Sympathy for the tough, tenacious “devil bear, ” as the wolverine is also known, has never been widespread. That could change soon, as rising temperatures prematurely melt the deep, high-altitude, snow-pack dens where these misunderstood and already rare mammals nurture their young. With fewer than 1,000 left in the contiguous 48 states, wolverines may be one of the rarest carnivores in North America. Low population densities and large home ranges make them sensitive to habitat disturbance and fragmentation—and difficult to study. The names given to this creature of mountain forest and tundra indicate how poorly understood it is and why it was once persecuted by hunters. “Wolverine” and “devil-bear ” are the ones most commonly used. It is not closely related to the wolf—or to Satan—but it does have a reputation for thievery and ferocity. The French call it carcajou, Inuit for “evil spirit. ” To the Cree, it is ommeethatsees or “one that likes to steal”; to scientists, it is Gulo gulo, Latin for “the glutton. ” Their