Range
Wolverines live primarily in isolated northern areas, for example the arctic and alpine regions of northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia; they are also native to European Russia, the Baltic countries, the Russian Far East, northeast China and Mongolia. In 2008 and 2009, wolverines were sighted as far south as the Sierra Nevada, near Lake Tahoe, for the first time since 1922. They are also found in low numbers in the Rocky Mountains and northern Cascades of the United States, and have been sighted as far south and east as Michigan. However, most New World wolverines live in Canada.
The world's total wolverine population is unknown. The animal exhibits a low population density and requires a very large home range. The range of a male wolverine can be more than 620 km2 (240 mi2), encompassing the ranges of several females which have smaller home ranges of roughly 130–260 km2 (50–100 mi2). Adult wolverines try for the most part to keep nonoverlapping ranges with adults of the same sex. Radio tracking suggests an animal can range hundreds of miles in a few months.
Female wolverines burrow into snow in February to create a den, which is used until weaning in mid-May. Areas inhabited nonseasonally by wolverines are thus restricted to zones with late-spring snowmelts. This fact has led to concern that global warming will shrink the ranges of wolverine populations.
The Wildlife Conservation Society reported in June 2009 that a wolverine researchers had been tracking for almost three months had crossed into northern Colorado. Society officials had tagged the young male wolverine in Wyoming near Grand Teton National Park and it had traveled southward for about 500 miles. It was the first wolverine seen in Colorado since 1919, and its appearance was also confirmed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
| Country | Population | Area | Year | State of population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 265+ | Norrbotten | 1995–97 | Stable |
| Norway | 150+ | Snøhetta plateau and North | 1995–97 | Decline |
| Finland | 155–170 | Karelia and North | 2008 | Stable |
| Russia | 1500 | Taiga | 1970, 1990, | Decline |
| Russia – Komi | 885 | – | 1990 | – |
| Russia – Archangelsk Oblast | 410 | Nenetsky Autonomous Area | 1990 | Limited |
| Russia – Kola Peninsula | 160 | Hunting Districts | 1990 | Decline |
| United States – Alaska | Unknown | Kobuk Valley National Park, Selawik National Wildlife Refuge | 1998 | Decline |
| United States – Alaska | 3.0 (± 0.4 SE) wolverines/1,000 km2 | Turnagain Arm and the Kenai Mountains | 2004 | – |
| United States – Rocky Mountains | 28–52 | Montana, Idaho, Wyoming | 1989–2007 | Unknown |
| United States – California | 3 | Tahoe National Forest | 2008 | Unknown |
| Canada – Yukon | 9.7 (± 0.6 SE) wolverines/1,000 km2 | Old Crow Flats | 2004 | – |
| Canada – Ontario | Unclear | Red Lake – Sioux Lookout to Fort Severn – Peawanuck | 2004 | Stable to expanding |
| Canada – Overall | 15000–19000 | Overall | – | Stable |
This requirement for large territories brings wolverines into conflict with human development, and hunting and trapping further reduce their numbers, causing them to disappear from large parts of their former range; attempts to have them declared an endangered species have met with little success.
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—Northern Irish Tourist Board. quoted in New Statesman (London, Aug. 29, 1969)
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