Mustela gulo Linnaeus, Ursus luscus Linnaeus, It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The wolverine is found primarily in remote reaches of the Northern boreal forests and subarctic and alpine tundra of the Northern Hemisphere, with the greatest numbers in Northern Canada , the U.
Its population has steadily declined since the 19th century owing to trapping , range reduction and habitat fragmentation. The wolverine is now essentially absent from the southern end of its range in both Europe and North America. The wolverine's questionable reputation as an insatiable glutton reflected in its Latin genus name Gulo , meaning "glutton" may be in part due to a false etymology. Its name in other West Germanic languages is similar e.
Dutch : veelvraat. The Finnish name is ahma , derived from ahmatti, which is translated as "glutton". Similarly, the Estonian name is ahm , with the equivalent meaning to the Finnish name. Purported gluttony is reflected neither in the English name wolverine nor in the names used in North Germanic languages. The English word wolverine alteration of the earlier form, wolvering, of uncertain origin probably implies "a little wolf". Genetic evidence suggests that the wolverine is most closely related to the tayra and martens , all of which shared a Eurasian ancestor.
Some authors had described as many as four additional North American subspecies, including ones limited to Vancouver Island G. However, the most currently accepted taxonomy recognizes either the two continental subspecies or G. Recently compiled genetic evidence suggests most of North America's wolverines are descended from a single source, likely originating from Beringia during the last glaciation and rapidly expanding thereafter, though considerable uncertainty to this conclusion is due to the difficulty of collecting samples in the extremely depleted southern extent of the range.
Anatomically, the wolverine is an elongated animal that is low to the ground. With strong limbs, broad and rounded head, small eyes and short rounded ears, it most closely resembles a large fisher.
