The jury is out as to whether wildlife photographer Trent Sizemore captured grainy footage of a wolverine running across the road just outside Yellowstone National Park’s West Entrance while driving through a snowstorm on November 12th. There are several telltale indicators that it was one of Yellowstone’s most elusive inhabitants but its identity has not been confirmed.
Yellowstone 2.2 million acres is home to approximately 6 to 7 wolverines who live in extremely remote terrain in such low populations densities that the chances of catching a glimpse of one is like winning the lottery. The following video is the last confirmed sighting of a Yellowstone wolverine that occurred in March 2022 when father and daughter Carl and Maya Kemp spotted one on the highway near Cooke City.
Despite their name, wolverines are not closely relatives to wolves. Rather they are part of the weasel family which includes otters and ferrets. Their scientific name is Gulo Gulo which translates from Latin to Glutton Glutton, a fitting name for the mid-size carnivores who are known for their insatiable appetite and propensity to eat entire animals including bones and teeth.
Its not unusual for wildlife biologists who study wolverines for lifetime to only see them a great a distance or not at all making Carl and Maya’s experience incredibly special. Carl described the wolverine as “The Unicorn of Yellowstone” and Maya thought it was “magical.”
Yellowstone Wolverine Size and Behavior:
- 38–47 inches long, 13–31 pounds.
- Opportunistic eaters. Eat burrowing rodents, birds, eggs, beavers, squirrels, marmots, mice, and vegetation (including whitebark pine nuts).
- Active year-round, intermittently throughout the day.
- Breed April to October; one litter of 2–4 young each year. Females give birth in dens excavated in snow.
- Den in deep snow, under log jams, and uprooted trees in avalanche chutes.
- Mostly solitary except when breeding.
