2008
2008 ✦ ✦ ✦ Some very odd events began to occur at the research site that winter. It all started with the carnivorous hares. Jeff had always wondered why he got so many pictures of snowshoe hares at the bait site. It seemed odd to him that the rabbitlike herbivores would want to hang out in an area literally reeking with the scent of a predator. In fact, a British Columbia study published in 1986 showed clear evidence that snowshoe hares will actively avoid feeding in an area where the scent of wolverine urine is present.1 In October 1980, researchers discovered that a wolverine had attacked hares caught in live traps during the last night of a monitoring session in a stand of young lodgepole pine seedlings near Prince George, British Columbia. Unable to remove the hares from the traps, the wolverine had simply consumed whatever body parts it could reach through the cage. The gruesome scene had occurred only on the left half of the ninehectare grid, so the intrigued researchers left the cages in place and monitored the ongoing results. During the ‹rst month following the attack, no hares entered traps on the left half of the grid while trapping continued to be successful in the control half. The avoidance behavior had declined by February, when comparable numbers of hares were again trapped on both halves of the grid. Obviously, some odor had persisted at the site for eight weeks. But what was it? Had the wolverine marked the territory or the traps themselves as food caches, using anal gland secretions, urine, or feces? Or was it the presence of hare blood on the traps that caused their brethren to steer a wide berth? A follow-up study in 1985 provided the answer. The controlled ex175 periments indicated that wolverine fecal odor had no effect on hare behavior , while gland secretions had only a marginal impact. But wolverine urine odor proved to be highly effective in discouraging the hares from feeding on lodgepole pine seedlings, their favorite food in the spring and autumn. Obviously, snowshoe hares were savvy enough to know a wolverine was a potential threat. So why were they willing to hang out in a spot routinely frequented by one? The answer was shocking. In January, Jeff began getting pictures of snowshoe hares ripping meat off the bait carcasses. In some pictures the hares were so determined to tear off a chunk of meat that they were standing up high on their back legs to do so. It wasn’t just a ›uke incident: in that one winter , Jeff accumulated over 50 pictures of hares feeding on a deer carcass. Now he realized they were actually attracted to the scent of the rotting meat. What in the world was going on in the Minden swamp? The longlegged leporid was supposed to be a herbivore; any middle school science teacher worth his salt knew that. Yet here they were caught on camera like an armed robber in a 24-hour convenience store. Contrary to what every textbook had ever taught him, it appeared that under the right circumstances snowshoe hares could be opportunistic scavengers, omnivores that would consume dead, rotting ›esh as eagerly as they would snip off a tender young branch or fresh green foliage. Snowshoe hares should be serving as a mainstay of the wolverine’s diet. Instead, the Minden swamp hares were fellow diners at Jeff’s 24hour buffet. If he didn’t have it on ‹lm, most people would never have believed him. About the same time he also started getting pictures of mysteriously ghostlike new visitor, so white it nearly vanished into the snowy background . On video it looked like a little piece of snow running around. It was only when the creature turned sideways that a pair of tiny dark eyes and the black tip of a tail could be seen. With its white body nearly invisible as it darted across the snow, the spots of black on each end almost appeared to be two tiny black mice chasing each other. It wasn’t until the game camera caught the critter in a still image and he was able to zoom in and study it that Jeff realized what else he had coming in to feast on the carrion. It was one of the wolverine’s smallest cousins, the long-tailed weasel, decked out in its winter splendor. 176 ✦ The Lone Wolverine [3.133.109.30] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 08:19...
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