[Please note: this photo has nothing to do with the newly spotted wolverine living in the Tahoe National Forest. It's simply included here because the jubilant character is yelling out the word 'WOLVERINES' in this scene from the rather so-so 1980s movie, Red Dawn, which I simply could not resist including in this entry.]

So let’s say the entry begins here ….

I never knew much about Wolverines. I’ve never seen one. In fact no one has proven a sighting of a Wolverine in California since 1922 until a researchers remote camera captured a couple pictures of one in Tahoe National Forest east of Truckee.

“The sighting set off a near frenzy among giddy scientists and wildlife experts.” I think it’s pretty fracking cool too. Though I’ve hiked around those woods and I know I wouldn’t want to come across one. Ever since watch Red Dawn, I’ve known a Wolverine is a pretty fearsome foe.

The big question now is, where did it come from. Is it an elusive descendant of the original population? The nearest known population is 900 miles away in central Washington, did I walk that far? Did someone release it? It’s so important to know that volunteers have searched 150 mile area looking for fur, scat or other cast off from the animal to test it’s genetics against pelts from original California Wolverines. Planes have flown around trying to pick up signals in case the spotted animal has been tagged previously.

Here’s more info on the researcher and how the image was captured:

Katie Moriarty, a graduate student in OSU’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, has been conducting research in the forest on the effects of landscape change on American martens. The project, funded primarily by the Pacific Southwest Research Station, uses a large array of cameras that remotely capture images of martens and other animals through the use of motion sensors or heat detectors.

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