This is the rarest large predator in Europe.
It's so rare, that you might not have even known they were here.
Well, unless you live near them, of course.
Wolverine's... Wrong one.
Wolverines are widespread across the subarctic,
but are most well known around Alaska and Northern Canada,
which supports the largest populations of them.
However, they're found as far away as Norway as a separate subspecies.
The Eurasian Wolverine, Gulo gulo. gulo...
Which translates to glutton three times over.
Sometimes I wonder what goes through the minds of scientists
when they decide on the binomial names for a species.
But it's pretty obvious how this one got chosen.
There's a lot of debate around how Wolverines are faring across the world,
as due to their large territories and elusiveness, it's incredibly difficult
to get a good estimate for their population.
There's also debate as to
whether scientists should even bother trying due to their monstrous reputation.
That's a big part of the reason we want to tell you about them today,
but we'll get into that in a bit.
Through painstaking efforts
to gather reliable data, they've been listed as vulnerable
in Sweden, endangered in Finland and Norway, and least concern worldwide.
Although some conservation
groups argue they should be subject to an endangered species act in the U.S.
Due to those same issues with gathering data we don't know
any exact historic population numbers, but estimates go as high as
a sevenfold decrease in European numbers over the past 100 years.
So naturally, before we talk about how they're being protected,
we need to know why they need protection.
It's a story similar to most large predators, in that their role
in ecosystems often leads them to direct conflict with human interests.
With Reindeer herds often attacked by Wolverines and misunderstandings
around their killing habits, they've developed a very negative reputation.
Many myths and folktales
paint them as bloodthirsty killers that kill more than they can eat.
A demonic creature that takes pleasure in massacring anything it comes across.
While there's no doubt that they can be vicious,
when it comes to hunting for food they act much like foxes, scavenging
wherever they can and hiding most of the meat from their kills for later.
That's where the misunderstanding for both of those comes
in, as they'll often kill more than they can eat
with the intention of returning later,
only for humans to come by and see a mess of barely eaten carcasses.
As you can imagine, that doesn't prove too popular with farmers and herders.
In Finland and Sweden we have some pretty good examples
of how this conflict had devastating results for Wolverines.
In the 18th century, Finnish legislation stated that Wolverine
populations had to be regulated and offered hunting bounties
for killing them from the late 19th century until 1975.
While the bounties stopped then,
the country was pretty much split in half on their opinions of Wolverines.
The split was reflected in their initial protection as reindeer
herding areas were exempt from the initial 1978
anti-hunting laws before being included in the revised 1982 version.
Nowadays the Wolverine has bounced back
from near extinction in Finland to an estimated 400 individuals
in 2020 with recorded territories further south than before.
While the story in Sweden was much the same,
the country is now seeing arguably the biggest recovery.
Here the population has risen from a couple of hundred to an estimated 6
to 700 individuals, with an increased range away from reindeer herds.
Public attitudes remained largely mixed, but a lot more understanding than before.
Wolverines are seen as an essential part of Finnish and Swedish nature, the role
they play as scavengers and hunters is welcomed more,
and reintroductions were mostly met with positivity.
But understandably, sceptics still remain, and Wolverines
are still constantly subject to illegal persecution.
One of Finland's main ways of combating this conflict is simply
to relocate the Wolverines to areas where Reindeer aren't herded.
As Finland has large amounts of forest where Wolverines can have minimal contact
with humans.
Sweden's approach leans more into a compensation system
for any damages caused by Wolverines, which is based on
the number of large carnivores within the area of herds.
With the efforts made to reduce conflict with herders, and the steady shift
in public opinion, the future is looking good for Wolverines in these countries.
But now, let's take a quick look at the population data in European
Russia, beginning with Russian Karelia and the Kola Peninsula.
In 1990 they had an estimated 160 and 80 individuals respectively,
which were both steep declines since 1970 when they had reportedly high densities of wolverines.
According to a 2018 paper though they've bounced back
well since the introduction of protections.
It states that the population estimates for the peninsula are around 300
to 440 individuals, with around 160 in Russian Karelia.
Unfortunately, that's where the data gets a little fuzzier,
but according to the Wolverine Foundation, a considerable population
decrease in Russia overall has taken place over the last 30 years.
The legality of killing Wolverines varies from region to region,
but even in places where killing them is outlawed,
they're still subject to poaching for their furs.
In these areas of Russia,
instead of coming into conflict with herders,
they often come into conflict with hunters.
To them, they're seen as pests as they take the bait from traps and spoil
the meat of animals caught in them, and so are often shot on sight.
Their nature as scavengers is always going to lead to these interactions with hunters,
so in unprotected areas their numbers will likely continue to fall.
At the very least, they look to be doing
well in protected regions, but more needs to be done elsewhere.
Before I tell you about the Norwegian population,
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if you're REALLY enjoying the video and you haven't already, or
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The link is in the description if you need it,
but now let's get back on topic.
Wolverines have had an especially tough time in Norway, having been hunted
to functional extinction in the south of the country by the 1960s,
but after their official protecting in 1973 they soon recolonised the area.
Now having risen up to an estimated 382 individuals in 2020, Norway's Wolverines
face a very different scenario to the ones found in neighbouring countries.
The way of managing conflict here also includes compensation,
but also licenced hunting to keep the population down.
With free ranging sheep and reindeer at risk, Norway's
government maintains lower numbers of wolverines in these areas.
The population here appears to be stable but still too low to be of no concern.
Their current conservation efforts will need to continue, and ideally
they'll see Wolverine numbers in less problematic areas increase with time.
But this does highlight the issue around managing the interests of people and wildlife.
It's a problem that shifts not only between countries,
but even from town to town, and while a solution like this might work
perfectly for some people in Norway, it may seem unnecessary to others.
It'd be easy for us to think that they should be trying to get their Wolverine numbers
as high as possible, but that's just not going to be sustainable
over time and certainly never going to be popular with local farmers.
So with that being said,
what about reintroducing them to their recent previous range?
While many Baltic countries have recently had populations,
and Ukraine is believed to have also supported a small population,
there don't seem to be any current plans for reintroduction.
For the meantime at least, most efforts are focused on better understanding the species.
There's certainly potential in the future, but reintroducing a large predator,
even if it's only recently been lost, is always going to draw a lot of concern and scepticism.
Even if those areas already support other large carnivores.
If you've watched this far, you're probably interested in Wolverines,
and probably also about species bouncing back.
So you may also be interested in this video about species that bounced back
right from the brink of extinction in North America.
So it's there if you would like to watch it, but thanks for watching.
And until next time. Cheers.