Recommend Reading The Wolverine Way by Douglas Chadwick

Reading THE WOLVERINE WAY by Douglas Chadwick, wildlife biologist turned journalist. He decides to volunteer to help collar/track Wolverines at Glacier National Park. His 1st day out to meet the head of the project, his glasses fogged up, the strings on his hood were whipping at his face, his hands started to freeze when he shifted his backpack, and he was reaching hypothermia just 1/2 a mile from the car!! OMIGOD! He said Wolverines Go Hard, high and steep, often climbing mountain ridges or scaling vertical rocks. They eat everything: alive, dead, long dead, moose, frogs, fox, mice, still warm hearts, and frozen bones. Trappers thought the scientists were nuts to try to attach GPS collars or better yet, sew in a microchip to track by satellite, versus hand held antennas. But, the scientists weren't trying to kill the mammals. They set up mini log cabins with food traps. You had to get to the animal, even in the middle of the night, when a radio signal went off. If not, the wolverine would EAT THROUGH THE LOGS. One animal ate into the wood to rescue his girlfriend wolverine, who was trapped! Get this...at age 17, Doug went with his dad to Alaska to mine gold. They met a man whose face looked like he'd been in a bar fight with broken glass bottles, or had a machinery accident. Neither...was it a wolverine! The guy killed the animal, then tied his front feet together, and put the front legs around his neck, so the animal draped down his back, backpack style. Heading home turns out the wolverine was not dead!!! He clawed the man's face!! So the author thought, "Gosh, how hard can it be to stay away from wolverines..." At age 58 he is out tracking them! One night he had to "babysit" one in the trap, keeping country music on, or talk radio, to calm down the animal. He thought it was ok to get a few hours of sleep. Next morning the wolverine had his head sticking out of the mini cabin! Doug closed up the gap. His associate had to drive in 300 miles, and SKI IN 9 miles to sedate the animal with medicine, and change out the GPS collar. Wolverines cover 120 miles or more a week, staking out their territory. The mom wolverine digs down 8-10 feet, then goes horizontal for 20 - 70 feet! She creates a sleeping chamber under the snow, lined with shredded wood, then a feeding chamber, and a side room for the toilet! How creative! She will have 1-2 exits for escape. Here's the funniest part of the book, thus far: the guys joke about removing the wolverines from the trap, since they will hit their head on 100 lbs of logs on top of the trap, to try to get out. They say to each other, “Just kiss the wolverine on the lips, and say goodbye!" It is very funny because these animals have major teeth and fangs!! They will not even bow to a grizzly bear. So a scientist will say, "I'll open the trap, then you kiss the wolverine goodbye". It's great to learn about this amazing animal.