Google search wolverine and the top references are for Marvel Comics’ fictional superhero made even more famous in the blockbuster Hollywood movie X-Men – not the tenacious and elusive animal that is an enduring symbol of deep wilderness.
But Bow Valley scientist Tony Clevenger has been trying to bring the plight of the rare wolverine to greater attention through his ambitious study in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks, which has now wrapped up.
Hair samples of wolverines collected over a three-year period for DNA analysis identified 64 individual wolverines in the parks – 25 females and 39 males – though that is not a population estimate.
Clevenger said the research, when compared to similar surveys in Kananaskis Country, the Purcell’s in B.C. and Waterton Lakes where wolverine detection was low, suggests the population in the parks is relatively healthy, stable and of regional conservation importance.
“We didn’t know what the status of wolverines was in the parks and we discovered that there appears to be a relatively healthy population,” said Clevenger, a biologist with the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University.
“There was no research in the mountain parks until we did ours… we’ve found this is an important population from a conservation standpoint. We know parks aren’t large enough by themselves to maintain wolverines.”
The research, funded and supported by Parks Canada, WTI-Montana State University, Woodcock Foundation and Wilburforce Foundations, was presented at a Bow Valley Naturalists meeting last week.
The study covered a 7,000 square kilometre area, based primarily in Banff, Kootenay and Yoho, though some work extended into Golden, B.C. to the west and work with partners in Kananaskis Country to the east to make it a “super study.”
The study area was surveyed for wolverines over the course of two seasons, in 2010-2011 and 2012-2013. Forty-eight hair traps were set the first year and 51 in the second season of research.
In the first season, more than 850 hair samples were collected, while the second season saw collection of more than 1,100 hair samples. They were sent to the U.S. Forest Service Conservation Genetic lab in Missoula, Montana.
The sites consisted of whole skinned beaver carcasses nailed to trees and secured with wire, luring wolverines to climb the tree and leave a hair sample. Remote infrared cameras at each site also snapped thousands of photos of wolverine activity and behaviour.
Sixty-four different individual wolverines were identified, the vast majority of which were males. The count included one male that was genetically distinct, while three others had a DNA haplotype detected to the far north, but much more common in the U.S.
It’s likely the three males were immigrants from the south, but researchers can’t say for sure if they are immigrants or if this haplotype just had not been detected previously in the population.
Clevenger said the 64 individuals are likely made up of animals that were transients, emigrated out of the population, immigrated into the population, and individuals that disappeared from the population during three-plus years of research.
“I don’t think anybody thought we’d identify 64 individuals,” said Clevenger, adding that work will be done to come up with an estimate of the wolverine population.
“This was really a big surprise. I was looking at the report, thinking there’s got to be a typo.”
The wolverine is an enduring symbol of deep wilderness, dogged determination and fierce independence. They are the largest terrestrial member of the weasel family and are often mistaken by people for a small bear.
Their scientific name, Gulo, comes from the Latin word for glutton, and their appetite is legendary, but they typically eat no more than any other animal their size. It’s just that they aren’t particularly picky eaters.
Found throughout high elevation forests and well into the harsh alpine, wolverines cover a phenomenal amount of territory, with some research indicating males may range over 3,000-sq-kms.
The animals naturally occur in low numbers and have low rates of reproduction. They are becoming recognized as genuine indicators of healthy, connected ecosystems due to their sensitivity to human disturbance and need for large areas and intact habitats.
Inside Canada’s Rocky Mountain national parks, wolverines are protected, but outside they have to battle logging, oil and gas development, busy roads and motorized recreation like snowmobiles, quads and heli-skiing – and also trapping.
Just south of the Canada-U.S. border, the wolverine is on the verge of being listed as threatened. There are said to be as few as 35 breeding wolverines remaining in the contiguous United States.
Clevenger and his team have done some surveys from Highway 3 in southern Alberta south to the U.S border, including in Waterton Lakes, and it is hoped more work will be done in an area north of Highway 3 to Kananaskis Country.
He said the research in the parks was unable to show that the Banff-Yoho-Kootenay population is a source for neighbouring local populations outside of the national parks, but he would like to be able to examine if that is true or not.
“We really want to learn more about this critical piece of puzzle sitting between here and the protected areas of Waterton-Glacier – and that’s an area that’s not protected at all,” he said.
“It’s an area that is critical in maintaining meta-populations migrating between Canada and the U.S. They are hard places when you get out of the protected mountain landscapes, where it’s difficult for wolverines to survive, but these landscapes are very important,” he added.
“To understand them you have to study them at a wolverine scale, which is a really large area.”
One of the key goals of the research was to address how roads, including the busy Trans-Canada Highway that cuts through Banff and Yoho and sees 20,000 vehicles per day on average, influences wolverines and gene flow.
There have been four known highway mortalities in the national parks here since 1981, two on the Trans-Canada before it was mitigated and two on Highway 93 South in Kootenay National Park.
There are now 44 crossing structures in Banff National Park – six overpasses and 38 underpasses. Clevenger and his team have been monitoring those structures for the past 17 years.
Clevenger said there has been scarce use of crossing structures by wolverines, noting only 10 wolverine crossings at eight structures, including one wolverine that used the Wolverine overpass west of Banff to cross the highway in November 2011.
“This is a very low density species, so you’re not going to have a lot of wolverines running across these structures,” said Clevenger, considered one of the world’s foremost experts on interactions of wildlife and highways.
“If you are going to get wolverines crossings, it’s going to be on the 3B section (Castle Mountain to the B.C. border).”
Clevenger said he suspects the western area of the study area in Banff is perhaps not optimal wolverine habitat, that better habitat is found to the west towards Lake Louise and Kicking Horse Pass.
“Here, the valley is wide and inhabited by wolf packs. Wolf packs prey on wolverine, so maybe it’s a risky place for them to be,” said Clevenger.
“Or are they just avoiding the highway? We know from tracking, wolverine come to within 200 to 250 metres of the TCH and turn around,” he said.”
Clevenger’s research also showed the Trans-Canada Highway is not ‘structuring’ male wolverines. Structuring is the subdivision of the population into two genetically different populations.
“We did find some structuring among females across the Trans-Canada Highway, however, two females were detected moving across the Trans-Canada Highway,” he said. “It’s not clear whether structuring may be caused by topography more than transportation. There is some structure, but not really clear cut that that the highway is a barrier to movement.”
