Kevin Potter, age 10, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for his question:
Is it true that wolverine fur does not freeze?
It is true that the long guard hairs of wolverine fur do not gather frosty icicles. Some people claim that the frost does not stiffen his thick under layers of fur either. In any case, Eskimos treasure bands of wolverine fur on the hoods and cuffs of their parka jackets. In subzero weather, the furs of most animals become coated with prickly slivers of ice, especially where they come in contact with steamy breath and moist skin.
The wolverine, sad to say, has a horrible reputation in his northern homeland. True, the Eskimos respect him and cherish his non freezable fur. But trappers, campers and other roamers in the north woods bring a long list of charges against him and rate him as the meanest character at liberty. As usual, almost nobody even tries to judge his alleged crimes from the wolverine's point of view. Anybody with a gun feels quite justified in shooting him on sight.
It's high time for students of ecology to review the charges against the wolverine and evaluate his role in nature's plans. His human enemies charge that he is a most cunning character, full of crafty tricks. Our defense is that he is an unusually smart animal and goodness knows the world needs all available intelligence. Hunters claim that the cunning thief steals bait and captured animals from their traps ¬without getting himself caught. Our forthright reply is that no person should lower his human dignity to set cruel traps for fur bearing animals.
His accusers claim that he sneaks into camp and leaves everything in a shambles, sprayed with his foul odor. If these people had good sense, they would not leave their camps unprotected. Such sloppy carelessness is an unfair temptation to creatures who rightfully belong in the wilds. The wolverine is both curious and hungry by nature. He has skunk type musk glands and sprays food and other tempting items to discourage neighboring animals from thievery.
He is said to be the greediest of creatures. Well, his sturdy body needs lots of meat food to keep busy, especially in the cold. True, he preys on deer, rodents and other animals. But nature needs his healthy appetite to weed out the weak ones and keep animal populations within bounds, for their own good.
At this point, let's remind absolutely everybody that the wolverine is an animal.
It is unfair and rather ridiculous to judge him by human qualities. From our point of view, such things as stealing and vandalism are backward and weak minded qualities. But the wolverine does not understand our point of view in these matters. He just does what comes naturally to him because nature needs him to be just the way he is. When we see things fairly, from his point of view, the wolverine is a splendid animal.
The handsome fellow is the giant of the weasel tribe. His strong, sturdy body may be three feet long, plus a bushy 14 inch tail. He belongs to the very best dressed mammal family and his smaller cousins are the snow ermines and silky minks, the busy badgers and waterproof otters. His dark brown coat is extra thick and his long, shiny guard hairs are rather coarse. These super smooth hairs may explain why the frost fails to form prickly icicles on his fur.