Wolverines World-Class Travelers, Radio Tracking Study Shows- ENN

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ST. ANTHONY, Idaho — A multiple-year study of wolverines by the Wildlife Conservation Society and state and federal agencies has found that the fierce, reclusive animals travel hundreds of miles.

"The most striking thing we've found, putting GPS collars on, is just how far they travel," Jeff Burrell, Greater Yellowstone program manager for the society, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "They are amazing little travelers." One male, whose territory covered 14,000 square miles, traveled 250 miles in 19 days.

The study, which began in 2000 and is set to go at least through 2008, also turned up two of the six reproductive den sites documented in the lower 48 states, including one in Idaho's Caribou Targhee National Forest. The study area includes eastern Idaho and much of western Montana and Wyoming.

The goal of the research is to get an idea of the number of wolverines in the area, identify wildlife travel corridors, learn how wolverines are affected by such recreation activities as snowmobiling and backcountry skiing and make management recommendations about habitat and wolverine populations. "The main issue with wolverines is winter snow-machine use," Mark Orme, a wildlife biologist with the Targhee National Forest, told the Rexburg Standard Journal. "But so far, no scientific study shows an effect one way or the other."

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