78-479: A wolverine is a stocky and muscular carnivorous mammal that resembles a small bear. Wolverine may also refer to: Wolverine American wolverine ( G. g. luscus ) Eurasian wolverine ( G. g. gulo ) Mustela gulo Linnaeus, 1758 Ursus luscus Linnaeus, 1758 The wolverine ( / ˈ w ʊ l v ə r iː n / WUUL -və-reen , US also / ˌ w ʊ l v ə ˈ r iː n / WUUL -və- REEN ; Gulo gulo ), also called
156-891: A 2014 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publication, "wolverines are found in the North Cascades in Washington and the Northern Rocky Mountains in Idaho, Montana, Oregon ( Wallowa Range ), and Wyoming. Individual wolverines have also moved into historic range in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but have not established breeding populations in these areas". In 2022, Colorado Parks and Wildlife considered plans to reintroduce
234-586: A busy trade in wolverine furs in Sault Ste. Marie in the 18th century or may recall a disparagement intended to compare early settlers in Michigan with the vicious mammal. Wolverines are, however, extremely rare in Michigan. A sighting in February 2004 near Ubly was the first confirmed sighting in Michigan in 200 years. The animal was found dead in 2010. The Marvel Comics superhero James "Logan" Howlett
312-644: A companion to the wolf . Similarly, the Dené , a group of the Athabaskan -speaking natives of northwestern Canada, have many stories of the wolverine as a trickster and cultural transformer much like the coyote in the Navajo tradition or raven in Northwest Coast traditions. New World The term " New World " is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth 's Western Hemisphere , particularly
390-452: A conniving trickster who created the world. The story of the formation of the Innu world begins long ago when Kuekuatsheu built a big boat similar to Noah's Ark and put all the various animal species in it. There was a great deal of rain, and the land was flooded. Kuekuatsheu told a mink to dive into the water to retrieve some mud and rocks which he mixed together to create an island, which is
468-529: A continent in that southern part; full of animals and more populous than our Europe, or Asia, or Africa, and even more temperate and pleasant than any other region known to us. Vespucci's letter was a publishing sensation in Europe that was immediately and repeatedly reprinted in several other countries. Peter Martyr, who had been writing and circulating private letters commenting on Columbus's discoveries since 1493, often shares credit with Vespucci for designating
546-570: A den, which is used until weaning in mid-May. Areas inhabited nonseasonally by wolverines are thus restricted to zones with late-spring snowmelts . This fact has led to concern that global warming will shrink the ranges of wolverine populations. This requirement for large territories brings wolverines into conflict with human development, and hunting and trapping further reduce their numbers, causing them to disappear from large parts of their former range; attempts to have them declared an endangered species have met with little success. In February 2013,
624-584: A large open ocean between China on the east side of the map, and the inchoate largely water-surrounded North American and South American discoveries on the western side of map. Out of uncertainty, they depicted a finger of the Asian land mass stretching across the top to the eastern edge of the map, suggesting it carried over into the western hemisphere. E.g. the Cantino Planisphere denotes Greenland as "Punta d'Asia"—"edge of Asia". Some maps, e.g.,
702-549: A lining in jackets and parkas in Arctic conditions. A light-silvery facial mask is distinct in some individuals, and a pale buff stripe runs laterally from the shoulders along the side and crossing the rump just above a 25–35 cm (10–14 in) bushy tail. Some individuals display prominent white hair patches on their throats or chests. Like many other mustelids, it has potent anal scent glands used for marking territory and sexual signaling. The pungent odor has given rise to
780-427: A male wolverine can be more than 620 km (240 sq mi), encompassing the ranges of several females which have smaller home ranges of roughly 130–260 km (50–100 mi ). Adult wolverines try for the most part to keep nonoverlapping ranges with adults of the same sex. Radio tracking suggests an animal can range hundreds of miles in a few months. Female wolverines burrow into snow in February to create
858-437: A scent-marking behavior. Headspace analysis of the volatiles emanating from urine samples identified 19 potential semiochemicals. The major classes of identified chemicals are the ketones; 2-heptanone, 4-heptanone and 4-nonanone and the monoterpenes: alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, limonene, linalool and geraniol. In other mammals, the excretion of these terpenes is unusual. The conifer needles that are found in wolverine scat are likely
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#1732790578945936-652: A wolverine in Ubly, Michigan . The specimen was found dead at the Minden City State Game Area in Sanilac County, Michigan in 2010. Wolverines are primarily scavengers . Most of their food is carrion , especially in winter and early spring. They may find carrion themselves, feed on it after the predator (often, a wolf pack) has finished, or simply take it from another predator. Wolverines are known to follow wolf and lynx trails to scavenge
1014-610: A wolverine was seen in Utah, the first confirmed sighting in that state in 30 years. Around a hundred wolverines are held in zoos across North America and Europe, and they have been bred in captivity, but only with difficulty and high infant mortality. Many North American cities, sports teams , and organizations use the wolverine as a mascot. For example, the US state of Michigan is, by tradition, known as "the Wolverine State", and
1092-586: Is about the size of a medium dog, with a body length ranging from 65–109 cm (26–43 in); standing 36–45 cm (14–18 in) at the shoulder; and a tail length of 17–26 cm ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 –10 in). Weight is usually 11–18 kg (24–40 lb) in males, and in females 8–12 kg (18–26 lb). Exceptionally large males of as much as 32 kg (71 lb) are referenced in Soviet literature, though such weights are deemed in Mammals of
1170-566: Is now essentially absent from the southern end of its range in both Europe and North America. The wolverine's questionable reputation as an insatiable glutton (reflected in its Latin genus name Gulo , meaning "glutton") may be in part due to a false etymology . The less common name for the animal in Norwegian , fjellfross , meaning "mountain cat", is thought to have worked its way into German as Vielfraß , which means "glutton" (literally "devours much"). Its name in other West Germanic languages
1248-477: Is now named South America, that same map famously labels simply " America ". Martin Waldseemüller 's map of 1516 retreats considerably from his earlier map and back to classical authority, with the Asian land mass merging into North America, which he now calls Terra de Cuba Asie partis , and quietly drops the "America" label from South America, calling it merely Terra incognita . The western coast of
1326-616: Is similar (e.g. Dutch : veelvraat ). The Finnish name is ahma , derived from ahmatti, which is translated as "glutton". Similarly, the Estonian name is ahm , with the equivalent meaning to the Finnish name. In Lithuanian , it is ernis ; in Latvian , tinis or āmrija . The Eastern Slavic росомаха ( rosomakha ) and the Polish and Czech name rosomák seem to be borrowed from
1404-574: Is the cougar . At least one account reported a wolverine's apparent attempt to steal a kill from a black bear , although the bear won what was ultimately a fatal contest for the wolverine. There are a few accounts of brown bears killing and consuming wolverines as well and, although also reported at times to be chased off prey, in some areas such as Denali National Park , wolverines seemed to try to actively avoid encounters with grizzly bears as they have been reported in areas where wolves start hunting them. Wolverines have been observed to use urine as
1482-668: Is unclear whether the wolverines would have formed sustainable populations. Unique records of encounters with wolverines have been noted in Latvia , the most recent one being in late July 2022 (although it can be disputed because of the unclear footage); the population was widespread in the 16th and 17th centuries, but nowadays it is not native to the area. Most New World wolverines live in Canada and Alaska. However, wolverines were once recorded as also being present in Colorado, areas of
1560-690: The Terra Australis that had been posited as a hypothetical southern continent. All of the New World countries use the Latin script as its official script. The Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci is usually credited for coming up with the term "New World" ( Mundus Novus ) for the Americas in his 1503 letter, giving it its popular cachet, although similar terms had been used and applied before him. The Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto used
1638-481: The Americas . The term arose in the early 16th century during Europe 's Age of Discovery , after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci published the Latin -language pamphlet Mundus Novus , presenting his conclusion that these lands (soon called America based on Amerigo's name ) constitute a new continent . This realization expanded the geographical horizon of earlier European geographers, who had thought that
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#17327905789451716-606: The Gulf of Paria implied that a previously unknown continent must lie behind it. Columbus proposes that the South American landmass is not a "fourth" continent, but rather the terrestrial paradise of Biblical tradition, a land allegedly known, but undiscovered, by Christendom . In another letter to the nurse of Prince John, written 1500, Columbus refers to having reached a "new heavens and world" ("nuevo cielo é mundo") and that he had placed "another world" ("otro mundo") under
1794-474: The National Park Service reported that wolverines had been sighted at Mount Rainier , Washington , for the first time in more than a century. The sighting was of a reproductive female and her two offspring. In 2004, the first confirmed sighting of a wolverine in Michigan since the early 19th century took place, when a Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist photographed
1872-575: The United States Lower 48 states to the threatened list. The Wildlife Conservation Society reported in June 2009 that a wolverine researchers had been tracking for almost three months had crossed into northern Colorado . Society officials had tagged the young male wolverine in Wyoming near Grand Teton National Park , and it had traveled southward for about 500 miles (800 km). It
1950-524: The United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed giving Endangered Species Act protections to the wolverine due to its winter habitat in the northern Rockies diminishing. This was as a result of a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife . In November 2023, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it was adding the wolverine in
2028-628: The University of Michigan takes the animal as its mascot. There have also been professional baseball and football clubs called the "Wolverines". The association is well and long established: for example, many Detroiters volunteered to fight during the American Civil War and George Armstrong Custer , who led the Michigan Brigade , called them the "Wolverines". The origins of this association are obscure; it may derive from
2106-576: The West Indies with what returning sailors told him of the East Indies . Vespucci wrote a preliminary letter to Lorenzo, while anchored at Bezeguiche, which he sent back with the Portuguese fleet, which expressed a certain puzzlement about his conversations. Vespucci ultimately was convinced while on his mapping expedition of eastern Brazil from 1501 to 1502. After returning from Brazil in
2184-468: The Yukon of Canada. Wolverines often pursue live prey that are relatively easy to obtain, including animals caught in traps, newborn mammals, and deer (including adult moose and elk) when they are weakened by winter or immobilized by heavy snow. Their diets are sometimes supplemented by birds' eggs, birds (especially geese ), roots , seeds , insect larvae, and berries . Adult wolverines appear to be one of
2262-407: The carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree , kwiihkwahaacheew ), is the largest land-dwelling member of the family Mustelidae . It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal . The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself. The wolverine is found primarily in remote reaches of
2340-492: The fetus . Females will often not produce young if food is scarce. The gestation period is 30–50 days, and litters of typically two or three young ("kits") are born in the spring. Kits develop rapidly, reaching adult size within the first year. The typical longevity of a wolverine in captivity is around 15 to 17 years, but in the wild the average lifespan is more likely between 8 and 10 years. Fathers make visits to their offspring until they are weaned at 10 weeks of age; also, once
2418-727: The southwestern United States (Arizona and New Mexico), the Midwest (Indiana, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Ohio, Minnesota, and Wisconsin), New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts) and in New York and Pennsylvania. In the Sierra Nevada , wolverines were sighted near Winnemucca Lake in spring 1995 and at Toe Jam Lake north of the Yosemite border in 1996; and later photographed by baited cameras, including in 2008 and 2009, near Lake Tahoe . According to
Wolverine (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2496-520: The turkey were originally domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples in Mesoamerica . Agriculturalists in the Andean region of South America brought forth the cassava , peanut , potato , quinoa and domesticated animals like the alpaca , guinea pig and llama . Other New World crops include the sweetpotato , cashew , cocoa , rubber , sunflower , tobacco , and vanilla , and fruits like
2574-553: The "discoverer of the new globe" ("Colonus ille novi orbis repertor"). A year later, on 20 October 1494, Peter Martyr again refers to the marvels of the New Globe ("Novo Orbe") and the " Western Hemisphere " ("ab occidente hemisphero"). In Columbus's 1499 letter to the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, reporting the results of his third voyage, he relates how the massive waters of South America's Orinoco delta rushing into
2652-480: The 1506 Contarini–Rosselli map and the 1508 Johannes Ruysch map, bowing to Ptolemaic authority and Columbus's assertions, have the northern Asian landmass stretching well into the western hemisphere and merging with known North America, Labrador, Newfoundland, etc. These maps place the island of Japan near Cuba and leave the South American continent—Vespucci's "New World" proper—detached and floating below by itself. The Waldseemüller map of 1507, which accompanied
2730-419: The Americas as a new world. Peter Martyr used the term Orbe Novo , meaning "New Globe", in the title of his history of the discovery of the Americas, which began appearing in 1511. The Vespucci passage above applied the "New World" label to merely the continental landmass of South America . At the time, most of the continent of North America was not yet discovered, and Vespucci's comments did not eliminate
2808-591: The Americas remained unclear. That there must be a large ocean between Asia and the Americas was implied by the known existence of vast continuous sea along the coasts of East Asia . Given the size of the Earth as calculated by Eratosthenes this left a large space between Asia and the newly discovered lands. Even prior to Vespucci, several maps, e.g. the Cantino planisphere of 1502 and the Canerio map of 1504, placed
2886-445: The Americas until they were introduced by post-Columbian contact in the 1490s. Many common crops were originally domesticated in the Americas before they spread worldwide after Columbian contact, and are still often referred to as " New World crops ". Common beans ( phaseolus ), maize , and squash —the " three sisters "—as well as the avocado , tomato , and wide varieties of capsicum ( bell pepper , chili pepper , etc.), and
2964-770: The Americas, to distinguish them from their counterparts in the "Old World" (Europe, Africa and Asia)—e.g., New World monkeys , New World vultures , New World warblers . The label is also often used in agriculture. Asia, Africa, and Europe share a common agricultural history stemming from the Neolithic Revolution , and the same domesticated plants and animals spread through these three continents thousands of years ago, making them largely indistinct and useful to classify together as "Old World". Common Old World crops, e.g., barley , lentils , oats , peas , rye , wheat , and domesticated animals, e.g., cattle , chickens , goats , horses , pigs , sheep , did not exist in
3042-528: The Atlantic coast of North America in what is present-day Canada and the United States . The term "New World" is still commonly employed when discussing historic spaces, particularly the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the subsequent European colonization of the Americas . It has been framed as being problematic for applying a colonial perspective of discovery and not doing justice to either
3120-645: The Finnish rasva-maha (fat belly). Similarly, the Hungarian name is rozsomák or torkosborz which means "gluttonous badger". In French-speaking parts of Canada, the wolverine is referred to as carcajou , borrowed from the Innu-aimun or Montagnais kuàkuàtsheu . However, in France, the wolverine's name is glouton (glutton). Purported gluttony is reflected neither in the English name wolverine nor in
3198-487: The Indies "), and consequently came up with alternative names to refer to them. Only a few weeks after Columbus's return from his first voyage, Martyr wrote letters referring to Columbus's discovered lands as the "western antipodes" ("antipodibus occiduis", letter of 14 May 1493), the "new hemisphere of the earth" ("novo terrarum hemisphaerio", 13 September 1493). In a letter dated 1 November 1493, he refers to Columbus as
Wolverine (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3276-469: The Mustelinae [ferrets, mink, stoats, and weasels (Mustela spp.) and zorillas (Ictonyx spp.)] were not observed. The composition of the wolverine's anal gland secretion is similar to that of two other members of the Mustelinae, the pine and beech marten (Martes spp.) Wolverines, like other mustelids, possess a special upper molar in the back of the mouth that is rotated 90 degrees, towards the inside of
3354-534: The New World, including the Pacific Ocean , was discovered in 1513 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa , twenty years after Columbus' initial voyage. It was a few more years before the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan 's between 1519 and 1522 determined that the Pacific Ocean definitely formed a single large body of water that separates Asia from the Americas. Several years later, the Pacific Coast of North America
3432-590: The Northern boreal forests and subarctic and alpine tundra of the Northern Hemisphere, with the greatest numbers in Northern Canada , the U.S. state of Alaska , the mainland Nordic countries of Europe, and throughout western Russia and Siberia . Its population has steadily declined since the 19th century owing to trapping , range reduction and habitat fragmentation . The wolverine
3510-581: The Soviet Union to be improbable. The males are often 10–15% larger than the females in linear measurements and can be 30–40% greater in weight. According to some sources, Eurasian wolverines are claimed to be larger and heavier than those in North America, with weights reaching up to 20 kg (44 lb). However, this may refer more specifically to areas such as Siberia , as data from Fennoscandian wolverines shows they are typically around
3588-554: The chief of the navigation of Spain. Although the proceedings of the Toro-Burgos conferences are missing, it is almost certain that Vespucci articulated his recent 'New World' thesis to his fellow navigators there. During these conferences, Spanish officials seem to have accepted that the Antilles and the known stretch of Central America were not the Indies as they had hoped. Though Columbus still insisted they were. They set out
3666-515: The difficulty of collecting samples in the extremely depleted southern extent of the range. Anatomically, the wolverine is an elongated animal that is low to the ground. With strong limbs, broad and rounded head, small eyes and short rounded ears, it most closely resembles a large fisher . Though its legs are short, its large, five-toed paws with crampon-like claws and plantigrade posture enable it to climb up and over steep cliffs, trees and snow-covered peaks with relative ease. The adult wolverine
3744-534: The dominion of the Kings of Spain. The term "New World" ( Mundus Novus ) was coined in Spring 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci in a letter written to his friend and former patron Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici , which was published in Latin ) in 1503–04 under the title Mundus Novus . Vespucci's letter contains the first explicit articulation in print of the hypothesis that the lands discovered by European navigators to
3822-422: The famous Cosmographiae Introductio volume, which includes reprints of Vespucci's letters, comes closest to modernity by placing a completely open sea, with no stretching land fingers, between Asia on the eastern side and the New World. It is represented two times in the same map in a different way: with and without a sea passage in the middle of what is now named Central America on the western side—which, on what
3900-763: The few conspecific mammal carnivores to actively pose a threat to golden eagles . Wolverines were observed to prey on nestling golden eagles in Denali National Park . During incubation in Northern Sweden, an incubating adult golden eagle was killed on its nest by a wolverine. Wolverines inhabiting the Old World (specifically, Fennoscandia ) hunt more actively than their North American relatives. This may be because competing predator populations in Eurasia are less dense, making it more practical for
3978-420: The historic or geographic complexity of the world. It is argued that both 'worlds' and the age of Western colonialism rather entered a new stage, as in the ' modern world '. In wine terminology , "New World" uses a particular definition. " New World wines " include not only North American and South American wines, but also those from South Africa , Australia , New Zealand , and all other locations outside
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#17327905789454056-465: The latter to abandon the area. Armed with powerful jaws, sharp claws, and a thick hide, wolverines, like most mustelids , are remarkably strong for their size. They may defend against larger or more numerous predators such as wolves or bears. By far, their most serious predator is the grey wolf , with an extensive record of wolverine fatalities attributed to wolves in both North America and Eurasia. In North America, another predator (less frequent)
4134-407: The most currently accepted taxonomy recognizes either the two continental subspecies or G. gulo as a single Holarctic taxon. Recently compiled genetic evidence suggests most of North America's wolverines are descended from a single source, likely originating from Beringia during the last glaciation and rapidly expanding thereafter, though considerable uncertainty to this conclusion is due to
4212-656: The mouth. This special characteristic allows wolverines to tear off meat from prey or carrion that has been frozen solid. Wolverines live primarily in isolated arctic , boreal, and alpine regions of northern Canada, Alaska , Siberia , and Fennoscandia ; they are also native to European Russia , the Baltic countries, the Russian Far East , northeast China and Mongolia . Wolverine remains have been found in Ukraine , but they are extirpated there today and it
4290-531: The names used in North Germanic languages . The English word wolverine (alteration of the earlier form, wolvering, of uncertain origin) probably implies "a little wolf". The name in Proto-Norse , erafaz and Old Norse , jarfr , lives on in the regular Icelandic name jarfi , regular Norwegian name jerv , regular Swedish name järv and regular Danish name jærv . Genetic evidence suggests that
4368-441: The new goal for Spanish explorers: find a sea passage or strait through the Americas, a path to Asia proper. The term New World was not universally accepted, entering English only relatively late, and has more recently been subject to criticism . While it became generally accepted after Amerigo Vespucci that Christopher Columbus ' discoveries were not Asia but a "New World", the geographic relationship between Europe and
4446-552: The nicknames "skunk bear" and "nasty cat." The anal gland secretion for the samples obtained from six animal's secretion was complex and variable: 123 compounds were detected in total, with the number per animal ranging from 45 to 71 compounds. Only six compounds were common to all extracts: 3-methylbutanoic acid, 2-methylbutanoic acid, phenylacetic acid, alpha-tocopherol, cholesterol, and a compound tentatively identified as 2-methyldecanoic acid. The highly odoriferous thietanes and dithiolanes found in anal gland secretions of some members of
4524-400: The opinion of the ancients was, that the greater part of the world beyond the equinoctial line to the south was not land, but only sea, which they have called the Atlantic; and even if they have affirmed that any continent is there, they have given many reasons for denying it is inhabited. But this opinion is false, and entirely opposed to the truth. My last voyage has proved it, for I have found
4602-462: The possibility that the islands of the Antilles discovered earlier by Christopher Columbus might still be the eastern edges of Asia, as Columbus continued to insist until his death in 1506. A 1504 globe , possibly created by Leonardo da Vinci , depicts the New World as only South America , excluding North America and Central America . A conference of navigators known as Junta de Navegantes
4680-971: The remains of their kills. Whether eating live prey or carrion, the wolverine's feeding style appears voracious, leading to the nickname of "glutton" (also the basis of the scientific name). However, this feeding style is believed to be an adaptation to food scarcity, especially in winter. The wolverine is also a powerful and versatile predator. Its prey mainly consists of small to medium-sized mammals, but wolverines have been recorded killing prey many times larger than itself, such as adult deer. Prey species include porcupines , squirrels , chipmunks , beavers , marmots , moles , gophers , rabbits , voles , mice, rats, shrews , lemmings , caribou , roe deer , white-tailed deer , mule deer , sheep, goats, cattle, bison , moose , and elk . Smaller predators are occasionally preyed on, including martens , mink , foxes, Eurasian lynx , weasels , coyote , and wolf pups. Wolverines have also been known to kill Canada lynx in
4758-592: The same size as their American counterparts. It is the largest of terrestrial mustelids ; only the marine-dwelling sea otter , the giant otter of the Amazon basin and the semi-aquatic African clawless otter are larger—while the European badger may reach a similar body mass, especially in autumn. Wolverines have thick, dark, oily fur which is highly hydrophobic , making it resistant to frost. This has led to its traditional popularity among hunters and trappers as
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#17327905789454836-456: The source of these monoterpenes. The world's total wolverine population is not known. The animal exhibits a low population density and requires a very large home range. The wolverine is listed by the IUCN as Least Concern because of its "wide distribution, remaining large populations, and the unlikelihood that it is in decline at a rate fast enough to trigger even Near Threatened". The range of
4914-675: The spring of 1503, Vespucci authored the Mundus Novus letter in Lisbon and sent it to Lorenzo in Florence , with the famous opening paragraph: In passed days I wrote very fully to you of my return from new countries, which have been found and explored with the ships, at the cost and by the command of this Most Serene King of Portugal; and it is lawful to call it a new world, because none of these countries were known to our ancestors and to all who hear about them they will be entirely new. For
4992-463: The term "un altro mondo" ("another world") to refer to sub-Saharan Africa , which he explored in 1455 and 1456 on behalf of the Portuguese. This was merely a literary flourish, not a suggestion of a new "fourth" part of the world. Cadamosto was aware that sub-Saharan Africa was part of the African continent. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera , an Italian chronicler at the service of Spain , doubted Christopher Columbus 's claims to have reached East Asia ("
5070-448: The traditional wine-growing regions of Europe, North Africa and the Near East . The usefulness of these terms for wines though have been questioned as arbitrary and too generalized. In a biological context, species can be divided into those in the Old World ( Palearctic , Afrotropic ) and those in the New World ( Nearctic , Neotropic ). Biological taxonomists often attach the "New World" label to groups of species found exclusively in
5148-400: The watering stop at Bezeguiche in present-day Dakar , Senegal , as Vespucci was on his expedition to chart the coast of newly discovered Brazil and the ships of the Second Portuguese India armada , commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral , were returning from India . Having already visited the Americas in prior years, Vespucci likely found it difficult to reconcile what he had already seen in
5226-437: The west were not the edges of Asia, as asserted by Christopher Columbus , but rather an entirely different continent that represented a "New World". According to Mundus Novus , Vespucci realized that he was in a "New World" on 17 August 1501 as he arrived in Brazil and compared the nature and people of the place with what Portuguese sailors told him about Asia . A chance meeting between two different expeditions occurred at
5304-416: The winter and early spring, a time when food is scarce. Wolverines are induced ovulators . Successful males will form lifetime relationships with two or three females, which they will visit occasionally, while other males are left without a mate. Mating season is in the summer, but the actual implantation of the embryo (blastocyst) in the uterus is stayed until early winter, delaying the development of
5382-444: The wolverine is most closely related to the tayra and martens , all of which shared a Eurasian ancestor. There are two subspecies : the Old World form, Gulo gulo gulo , and the New World form, G. g. luscus . Some authors had described as many as four additional North American subspecies, including ones limited to Vancouver Island ( G. g. vancouverensis ) and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska ( G. g. katschemakensis ). However,
5460-399: The wolverine to hunt for itself than to wait for another animal to make a kill and then try to snatch it. They often feed on carrion left by wolves, so changes in wolf populations may affect the population of wolverines. They are also known on occasion to eat plant material. Wolverines often cache their food during times of plenty. This is of particular importance to lactating females in
5538-411: The wolverine to the state. Wolverines are also found in Utah but are very rarely seen, with only six confirmed sightings since the first confirmed sighting in 1979. Three of these six confirmed Utah sightings have been caught on video. A wolverine, a male, was finally captured and tagged in Utah in 2022 before being released back into the wild to better understand the animal's range. In August 2020,
5616-490: The world only included Afro-Eurasian lands. Africa , Asia , and Europe became collectively called the " Old World " of the Eastern Hemisphere , while the Americas were then referred to as "the fourth part of the world", or the "New World". Antarctica and Oceania are considered neither Old World nor New World lands, since they were only discovered by Europeans much later. They were associated instead with
5694-468: The world that is presently inhabited along with all the animals. Many tales of Kuekuatsheu are often humorous and irreverent and include crude references to bodily functions. Some Northeastern tribes, such as the Miꞌkmaq and Passamaquoddy , refer to the wolverine as Lox, who usually appears in tales as a trickster and thief (although generally more dangerous than its Innu counterpart) and is often depicted as
5772-417: The young are about six months old, some reconnect with their fathers and travel together for a time. Wolves , American black bears , brown bears , cougars , and golden eagles are capable of killing wolverines, particularly young and inexperienced individuals. Wolves are thought to be the wolverine's most important natural predator, with the arrival of wolves to a wolverine's territory presumably leading
5850-461: Was assembled by the Spanish monarchs at Toro in 1505 and continued at Burgos in 1508 to digest all existing information about the Indies, come to an agreement on what had been discovered, and set out the future goals of Spanish exploration. Amerigo Vespucci attended both conferences, and seems to have had an outsized influence on them—at Burgos, he ended up being appointed the first piloto mayor ,
5928-468: Was given the nickname "Wolverine" while cage fighting because of his skill, short stature, keen animal senses, ferocity, and most notably, claws that retract from both sets of knuckles. The wolverine is prevalent in stories and oral history from various Algonquian tribes and figures prominently in the mythology of the Innu people of eastern Quebec and Labrador . The wolverine is known as Kuekuatsheu,
6006-487: Was mapped. The discovery of the Bering Straits in the early 18th century, established that Asia and North America were not connected by land. But some European maps of the 16th century, including the 1533 Johannes Schöner globe , still continued to depict North America as connected by a land bridge to Asia. In 1524, the term "New World" was used by Giovanni da Verrazzano in a record of his voyage that year along
6084-536: Was the first wolverine seen in Colorado since 1919, and its appearance was also confirmed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife . In May 2016 the same wolverine was killed by a cattle ranch-hand in North Dakota, ending a greater-than-800-mile (1,300 km) trip by this lone male wolverine, dubbed M-56. This was the first verified sighting of a Wolverine in North Dakota in 150 years. In February 2014,
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