Wolverine

The wolverine ( WUUL-və-reen, US also WUUL-və-REEN; Gulo gulo), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, kwiihkwahaacheew), is the largest land-dwelling member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself.

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.S. state of Alaska, the mainland Nordic countries of Europe, and throughout western Russia and Siberia. Its population has steadily declined since the 19th century owing to trapping, range reduction and habitat fragmentation. The wolverine has become essentially absent from the southern end of its range in both Europe and North America.

Naming

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. The less common name for the animal in Norwegian, fjellfross, meaning "mountain cat", is thought to have worked its way into German as Vielfraß, which means "glutton" (literally "devours much"). Its name in other West Germanic languages is similar (e.g. Dutch: veelvraat).