Continuing in, The Natural World. This is called Habitat.
The wolverine, whose numbers remain somewhat constant,
lays claim to upwards half a million acres
of his own and his few bitches.
A relative of the glutton, the lonely patriarch, restless,
cautious, and suspicious of man.
The mammalogist, Adolph Murie, says
that during his entire study of the mammals of Mount Rainier,
he never saw a wolverine.
He is a shy animal and keeps to out-sized secret paths.
He is the largest of the mustelines.
That subfamily which claims the mink, the weasel.
Dr. Krott is amazed at the uniformity of the species which
is of circumpolar distribution, inhabiting the vast coniferous
forests of the north.
The quality of the pelts in Manchuria,
however, is said to be slightly inferior.
Man has driven him from the southern fringes
of Latvia, Estonia, and some Russian provinces.
His body averages three feet long, including the tail.
His weight is sometimes nearly 80 pounds.
He is built for endurance.
Indeed, it is said that lumbrosacrally, he is overbuilt.
When engaged with a wolf and the powdery snow
of the wooded area, the wolverine
happily proves to be superior.
Since man has rid himself of the plague of wolves,
the wolverine is moving into the tundra.
He is an animal fond of play and can learn something new
to his innate modes of behavior.
When caught in a trap, he may bite off the tortured limb
and escape.
He runs in serpentine lines with frequent change of direction.
Strong hunger keeps a wolverine awake.
In the winter, he is the scourge of the Laplander's reindeer.
His normal gait is the gallop.
And when pursued, he can cover 40 miles without a rest.
Though carnivorous, he decimates at the proper season
the larvae of wasps.
He is a voracious rampant eater of wasp larvae.
Digging them out in the singing buzz
and sting from their mud-packed niches.
He has a fur much valued by northern people
that does not mat.
Men wear it about their faces.
He marks off his half million acres with his own urine,
and each of his bitches knows her own parcel
by the singular smell of her feces.