WEBVTT

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Continuing in, The Natural
World. This is called Habitat.

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The wolverine, whose numbers
remain somewhat constant,

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lays claim to upwards
half a million acres

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of his own and his few bitches.

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A relative of the glutton, the
lonely patriarch, restless,

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cautious, and suspicious of man.

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The mammalogist,
Adolph Murie, says

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that during his entire study of
the mammals of Mount Rainier,

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he never saw a wolverine.

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He is a shy animal and keeps
to out-sized secret paths.

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He is the largest
of the mustelines.

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That subfamily which claims
the mink, the weasel.

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Dr. Krott is amazed at the
uniformity of the species which

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is of circumpolar distribution,
inhabiting the vast coniferous

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forests of the north.

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The quality of the
pelts in Manchuria,

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however, is said to
be slightly inferior.

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Man has driven him from
the southern fringes

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of Latvia, Estonia, and
some Russian provinces.

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His body averages three feet
long, including the tail.

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His weight is sometimes
nearly 80 pounds.

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He is built for endurance.

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Indeed, it is said that 
lumbrosacrally, he is overbuilt.

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When engaged with a wolf
and the powdery snow

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of the wooded
area, the wolverine

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happily proves to be superior.

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Since man has rid himself
of the plague of wolves,

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the wolverine is
moving into the tundra.

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He is an animal fond of play
and can learn something new

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to his innate modes of behavior.

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When caught in a trap, he may
bite off the tortured limb

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and escape.

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He runs in serpentine lines with
frequent change of direction.

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Strong hunger keeps
a wolverine awake.

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In the winter, he is the scourge
of the Laplander's reindeer.

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His normal gait is the gallop.

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And when pursued, he can
cover 40 miles without a rest.

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Though carnivorous, he
decimates at the proper season

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the larvae of wasps.

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He is a voracious rampant
eater of wasp larvae.

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Digging them out in
the singing buzz

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and sting from their
mud-packed niches.

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He has a fur much valued
by northern people

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that does not mat.

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Men wear it about their faces.

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He marks off his half million
acres with his own urine,

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and each of his bitches
knows her own parcel

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by the singular
smell of her feces.

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