Wolverine

Photo By: Mark Packila / Wildlife Conservation Society

The warming climate threatens wolverines in a surprising way, Wildlife Conservation Society and its partners reveal with new research. The key? Wolverines "refrigerate" food like elk, caribou and moose carcasses and retrieve it from rocky, snow-covered crevices when hunting spoils are scarce, particularly to feed young. If winters continue to warm across the northern mountainous regions that the wolverine inhabits, bacteria and insects could make quick work of the food stores, stressing the animals trying to feed young.

“People don’t normally think of insects and microbes as being in competition for food with wolverines,” said lead author Robert Inman of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s North America Program. “But in fact, bacteria will devour an unprotected food source if that source is available.”

> Related: More Pictures by Wildlife Conservation Society

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