'There's nothing tougher'

Local researchers studying wolverines have high praise for the animals.

"Pound for pound, this is clearly the toughest, most going concern in the ecosystem, in the region," Whitefish author and wildlife aficionado Doug Chadwick said.

He extended his admiration for Gulo gulo beyond the Glacier region to encompass a good part of the world.

"I just can't think of anything to quite match it," he said. "It's that simple. There's nothing tougher, there's nothing that can handle this terrain and take on whatever challenges come in front of it any better and with more force and determination than a wolverine."

A hungry wolverine may stand off a bear 10 times its weight when fighting over an elk carcass for dinner.

Likewise, a wolf - another wolverine predator - can run, but compared with a wolverine its treks are little more than short-distance shuffles.

Wolverines have been known to take down full-grown moose and caribou. Mountain goats also are at the mercy of a wily wolverine approaching from above on a rocky cliff.

Primarily a meat eater, the wolverine also is the ultimate omnivore, Whitefish wolverine researcher Rick Yates said. The largest terrestrial weasel-family member has been documented eating insects, berries and more.

Wildlife research biologist Jeff Copeland challenged his technicians in a Sawtooth Mountains study to keep up with their wolverines for just 24 hours. Only one woman could do it, and won a steak dinner for her efforts.

"Just their incredible need to always be on the move," Copeland marveled. "They travel extreme distances in short periods of time. And the terrain they're crossing - it always just amazes us."

The animal spends much of its time racing across avalanche chutes, yet only once did researchers document an avalanche death.

"It's amazing it doesn't happen all the time," Kalispell veterinarian Dan Savage said.

And just try to spot them when they don't want to be seen.

"Two visuals in three years," Savage shook his head, pondering his experience in the wild. "It's that mystery and the unknown. It relates to the wildness.

"We just don't know. We need to know, but there's never going to be a lot we do know."