No, we’re not talking about a new Marvel Comics movie. We’re buzzing about the wild wolverine sighting in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas – only the second time the species has been spotted here in the past century.
Widespread trapping and poisoning wiped out California’s resident wolverine population by the mid-1900s. But at least one of the solitary animals made a foray back into the Golden State this spring.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed multiple sightings of the wolverine in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas in May, two in the Inyo National Park and a third in Yosemite National Park. It’s only the second confirmed sighting of a wolverine in California in the past 100 years.
Biologists believe the wolverine traveled to California from either northern Washington or Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, where the closest established populations live. The extensive snowpack from the winter’s unusually heavy storms likely paved the way.
“Although this may seem unlikely,” said Julia Lawson, a biologist with the CDFW, “it’s actually fairly common for territorial carnivores to make very long-distance exploratory movements, particularly young males in search of a mate.”
Wolverines are about the size of a medium dog. Though they look like small bears, with dark fur, short rounded ears and broad flat heads, they are actually the largest member of the weasel family. They are listed as a threatened species and classified as fully protected under the California Endangered Species Act.
“Individual animals vary in their behavior just like individual people, so this may have been a more curious wolverine than most,” Lawson said.
Wolverines don’t usually approach humans, but this recent visitor wasn’t avoiding people, either. Several backcountry skiers saw it, and it even made its way onto Mammoth Mountain.
“Individual animals vary in their behavior just like individual people, so this may have been a more curious wolverine than most,” Lawson said.
The recent sighting doesn’t mean that wolverines are reestablishing themselves in our state – at least not now. That hasn’t dampened biologists’ enthusiasm about the possibilities, though.
“It’s exciting to witness the return – even if temporary – of a native species to its historical range,” Lawson said. “If a population of wolverines were to become reestablished in California, this type of movement suggests that there could be occasional connectivity and gene flow between wolverines in California and in other western states.”The CDFW encourages the public to report any sightings – of wolverines or other species of interest – through their Wildlife Incident Reporting system.
