Feds list wolverines as threatened species, we wonder: What about the Buckeyes?
The University of Michigan's football team is 12-0 after dropping Ohio State for the third year in a row. Now, the wolverines have something else going in their favor.
Not those Wolverines. The actual ones. Strong, furry, sharp-toothed, mean? On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service listed the species, or at least its members rolling around the underbrush in the Lower 48 states, as officially threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
That means there are restrictions against killing, capturing or "taking" North American wolverines, though being listed as "threatened," versus "endangered," means there are some exemptions. In the case of the wolverines, the government is proposing an interim rule saying they can be killed or captured for research activities, incidental trapping and forest management intended to combat wildfires.
None of which is going to have much or any impact in Michigan, as other than a couple of wolverines housed at the Detroit Zoo, you're not likely to run into one, other than those decked out in maize-and-blue at the Big House. (Unlike a lot of other schools, U-M has neither a live version of its mascot or a dressed-up one traipsing around the sidelines; the helmet design also apparently has nothing to do with the animal either.)
In fact, there is scant evidence the state ever had much of any wolverine population; the question of how Michigan became "the Wolverine state" or U-M adopted it as a nickname remains shrouded in mystery, though it may have something to do with the state's history as a trapping outpost. One did pop up in the Thumb about 20 years ago.
It's now stuffed and on display at the Saginaw Visitor's Center after rolling around for several years in the Minden City State Game Area. Typically, live wolverines — some reports have said there are only about 300 left in the contiguous U.S. — live in the Western and northwestern states at high elevations.
For the record, the North American wolverine, otherwise known by the Latin "Gulo gulo luscus," (gulo standing for "glutton" and "luscus" for the New World version), runs to around 40 pounds or more and resembles a small bear but is actually a large member of a weasel-related family. (Cue the Michigan State fans.)
It also is nocturnal, can smell frozen carcasses in up to 20 feet of snow and has glands that produce a pungent, sticky substance to mark their territory — which often happens during mating season and before home games in November.
The government had actually moved to list the wolverine as threatened a decade ago, then delisted it, before a court, urged by environmental groups, stepped in and told it to look again.
And here we are: "Current and increasing impacts of climate change and associated habitat degradation and fragmentation are imperiling the North American wolverine,” said Fish & Wildlife Pacific Regional Director Hugh Morrison. “Based on the best available science, this listing determination will help to stem the long-term impact and enhance the viability of wolverines in the contiguous United States.”
Conservationists, noting the loss of snowpack due to climate change, have been pushing for the species to be listed since the 1990s, by the way, over the objections, at least in recent years, of farm bureaus, snowmobile associations and the American Petroleum Institute.
All we can say is, "Go Blue!" and wish future generations of wolverines and Wolverines good luck.
We might also remark that, after the way The Game has turned out in recent years, maybe someone needs to look at saving the Buckeyes.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Wolverines listed as threatened species under Endangered Species Act
