1st Mich. Wolverine Spotted in 200 Years
Wed Feb 25, 4:47 PM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!


By DAVID RUNK, Associated Press Writer

DETROIT - A biologist has confirmed the sighting of a real Michigan wolverine, about 200 years after the species was last seen in the state that uses the small but ferocious animal as its unofficial nickname.

Coyote hunters spotted a wolverine near Ubly, about 90 miles north of Detroit. Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Arnie Karr saw the forest predator Tuesday and snapped pictures of the animal as it ran out of the woods and across a field.


The wolverine, a member of the weasel family that grows to about 25 pounds but is ferocious enough to fight off bears and wolves, once ranged across the northern and western United States. It is now limited mostly to northern Canada, Idaho and Alaska, with sightings in a few other states, but its last confirmed sightings in Michigan were by fur traders in the late 1700s and early 1800s.


The appearance is "up there with having a caribou or a polar bear turn up," Department of Natural Resources spokesman Brad Wurfel said Wednesday. "It's unprecedented."


How the scrappy animal returned and even whether it ever really left are mysteries in the state, where the best-known Wolverines are athletes at the University of Michigan.


Raymond Rustem, supervisor of the natural heritage unit in the department's wildlife division, said the wolverine could have traveled to the state, been released or escaped from captivity.


"What it means, who knows?" Rustem said. "When you take a look at the wolverine, there's always been this debate about whether wolverines ever were a part of Michigan's recent past. Some evidence shows that, some says no."


The wolverine was on Michigan's endangered species list until the late 1990s, when it was removed because it wasn't expected to return, Rustem said. Conservationists asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to put the animal on its endangered list in 2000, but the agency in October declined to study whether the species should be added.



Arnie Karr, a state Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist said Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004, he was able to photograph a wolverine in Huron County with the help from a group of coyote hunters who originally spotted the animal. The animal, shown running out of the woods and across a field, was photographed on Feb. 24, by Karr. The sighting is the first confirmed find in the wild of a wolverine in the state since reports by fur traders in the late 1700s to early 1800s. (AP Photo/Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Arnie Karr)

oh id love one as a pet, maybe they should get some from canada and reintroduce it .

well looks like a badger to me





Pakistan Zindabad

they should produce thousands of clones

Hrmmm, I'm a fisher kinda guy, myself.

Did I mention they whack porcupines with ease?









The Fisher: Curious, intelligent, solitary


Like most of the weasel, or mustelid family, fishers are curious and intelligent animals. Solitary hunters, they look for anything edible, searching every crook, hole and cranny for a bite to eat. Fishers bound from place to place, and are fast and strong hunters. Even in areas with relative fisher abundance, they are extremely secretive and rarely seen by humans. They like forests with high canopy cover, late-successional and old-growth stands. They rest in many places such as down logs and the "witch's brooms" of tree branches.

Though the name fisher conjures up the image of an animal that eats fish or lives in or adjacent to rivers or the sea, this is not the case: the fisher is a forest carnivore. We think that the name "fisher" comes from the French word fichet, the name for the pelt of European polecats. Fisher may also have originated from trappers who used fish bait successfully to catch them. Fisher across North America carry local names like black cat, fisher cat, pekan, pequam, wejack, and woods-otter.


Fishers (Martes pennanti) are the largest member of the Martes genus and are found only in North America. Other members of the mustelid family are circumpolar; they are found around the northern countries of the world. Fishers are the second largest North American terrestrial mustelid; the wolverine is the largest. Female fishers can be about the same weight (4.5 to 5.5 lbs) as the male pine marten, their smaller cousin, and range from 2.5 to 3 feet long. Male fishers are much larger and can weigh as much as 12 pounds and stretch 3 to 4 feet long, with the tails making up a little over a third of their length.


Fishers can easily be mistaken for the pine marten (Martes Americana). Marten, however, are lighter in color with a distinctive orange or amber patch on the throat, more pointed ears and shorter tail, proportional to body length. Fisher are darker, almost a chocolate brown, have short legs, and more rounded ears than the marten. Both species are solitary except during breeding time or when the female are raising their young.


Fishers breed within a week or two after females give birth in late winter. The developing embryo then goes into a dormant state (delayed implantation) until approximately 36 days of active gestation before birth (parturition). The natal den where the female gives birth is the cavity of a large live tree or snag, often excavated by a pileated woodpecker. The woodpecker-sized hole apparently allows the female to squeeze through, while excluding the males. Loss of denning sites in old-growth trees may have been a contributing factor to the decline of fisher. The kits stay with the mother until late summer or early fall.


As generalist predators, fishers usually eat, proportionally, what is available. They do well on a diet of snowshoe hares, mice and other small mammals, grouse, reptiles, and a variety of fungi and berries that may be in season around their home ranges. They are also well known for being the most effective natural predator of porcupines.

looks like a badger , sure would be hard to get along with.