A mustelid of cold northern regions, with a robust body, a large head and small rounded ears.
Brown to blackish-brown fur carries pale bands along the sides toward the rump. Its short, powerful limbs help it travel over snow.
Wolverine dens have often been studied in snowy mountains and rugged ground. What did females use in the lowland forest of northern Alberta? During the winters of 2015–2017, researchers tracked four females and documented eight dens. Seven were in mature or old black spruce stands. The roots of leaning or fallen trees had lifted the ground, forming hollows inside moss-covered mounds. The remaining den was beneath decayed logging debris.
Spring snow covered less than 1% of the study area, and the nearest spring snow from a den averaged 15.19 km away. Weather stations recorded maximum snow depths of 32–51 cm from December to March. In this lowland boreal forest, the study documented dens in spaces formed by raised tree roots.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global species assessment (Gulo gulo)
The IUCN Red List global assessment classifies the wolverine as Least Concern (LC). It was assessed on 15 May 2015 and published in 2016; the current assessment record is marked as needing an update.
In Canada, COSEWIC assessed the wolverine as Special Concern across the Canadian range in May 2014. The 2025 Canadian species-at-risk list still gives May 2014 as its latest assessment date. The 2014 report estimated that the mature population likely exceeds 10,000, while noting southern-range declines and limited information on population trends.