Measurements.—The dried skin of a wolverine taken 3 miles south of Riverside, Okanogan County, was 4 feet in length. The animal weighed 40 pounds ([Scheffer], 1941: 37).
Distribution.—Timber-line region of the Cascades Mountains. From Robinson Creek ([Scheffer], 1938: 8) south to Mount Rainier ([Taylor] and [Shaw], 1929: 12).
Remarks.—Specimens from Washington are intermediate in character between luteus and the race inhabiting British Columbia, although available skulls are closer to luteus.
Fig. 59. Wolverine (Gulo luscus), mounted specimen, male, trapped by Billy Robinson about 1902 on Billy Robinson Creek, Okanogan County, Washington. (Fish and Wildlife Service photo by Victor B. [Scheffer], No. 76.)
Description.—Large males measure more than three feet in length, of which the tail makes up 10 inches; they weigh as much as 50 pounds ([Grinnell], Dixon and Linsdale, 1937: 253). The body is wide and stocky; the tail is short; the legs, especially the forelegs, are short, thick and powerful; the feet are large and are armed with long, curved claws; the head is wide; the jaws are powerful with heavy teeth. The pelage is long and rather shaggy. Face, legs, back and terminal portion of the tail are dark, blackish brown but the forehead is grayish, contrasting with the dark color of face and top of the head. Two broad, yellowish-brown bands begin on the side of the shoulders and pass back, low on the sides, to the hips where they join across the back and base of the tail.
The wolverines, nominally of several species, form a compact group that ranges over the boreal regions of the Old and New world. In North America they range southward from the Arctic to California and Colorado.
