A Rare Wolverine Encounter in Yellowstone National Park Was Recorded on Camera

A wolverine was seen on camera by a tourist this week in Yellowstone National Area, an astounding performance given that a study survey done in the park from 2006 to 2009 only documented seven of them.

On March 5, park visitor Carl Kemp was on a tour of the world's first national park when he noticed a wolverine in the middle of the road.

Kemp and his daughter Maya watched as the fluffy animal rushed back and forth in the snow.

Rarest animal found in Yellowstone

(Photo : BENOIT DOPPAGNE/BELGA/AFP via Getty Images)

On Saturday, a father and daughter visiting Yellowstone National Park for the very first time had an extremely uncommon meeting with a wolverine, which their guide characterized as a once-in-a-lifetime event, according to a report in For The Win.

The 9-year-old daughter couldn't stop exclaiming, every 15 minutes or so, 'Wow, we saw a wolverine today!' throughout the duration of the tour.

'Yellowstone Insight owner MacNeil Lyons recalled. She told me it was the most incredible day of her life.

Lyons did not provide the location of the sighting but did say it happened at 11:38 a.m.

When he came around a corner, the wolverine was spotted in the incoming lane as a "low-to-the-ground, black animal loping away from us."

The last time a reported wolverine sighting in Yellowstone National Park made headlines was maybe in January 2021.

Last month, park scientists were ecstatic to discover that one of Yellowstone's most endangered species had activated a remote trail camera outside the Mammoth Hot Springs region.

It was the first time a wolverine was recorded on video by a trail camera within the park.

Read more: Wolverine Removed from Threatened Species List

What is a wolverine?

Wolverines, although not being related to wolves, have a love-hate relationship with them. Wolverines will sometimes consume wolf carcasses, according to Rebecca Watters, executive director of The Wolverine Foundation, as per CNN.

Wolves, on the other hand, will not hesitate to kill the animals if they come into direct combat with them, she noted.

According to Watters, wolverines weigh between 15 and 40 pounds (6.8 and 18.1 kilograms) and live in the Rockies, Alaska, the Mongolian highlands, and sections of Russia and Canada.

Gulo gulo, which means "glutton glutton," is the scientific name for the species and good cause. Wolverines gorge themselves when food is available and store corpses in deep burrows to devour later, according to her.

Wolverines are not just uncommon in Yellowstone. According to Watters, the secretive creatures have a limited population all over the planet, which is due in part to their territorial nature.

She noted that an adult male may have a territory of up to 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers), but an adult female may have a territory of 300 square miles (777 square kilometers), which doesn't leave many areas for many wolverines.

Furthermore, females begin giving birth at the age of three, producing roughly two kits every other year, according to Watters. Wolverines live to a maximum of 15 years old, and around half of their kits die before reaching adulthood, contributing to their limited population, she added.

Related article: Fed to Scrap Plans to Make Wolverine Protected