The tenacious wolverine is under threat as climate change threatens to melt away mountain habitats.
The North American wolverine will receive long-delayed federal protections under a Biden administration proposal released on Wednesday in response to scientists warning that climate change will likely melt away the rare species’ snowy mountain refuges.
Across most of the United States, wolverines were wiped out by the early 1900s from unregulated trapping and poisoning campaigns. About 300 surviving animals in the contiguous US live in fragmented, isolated groups at high elevations.
In the coming decades, warming temperatures are expected to shrink the mountain snowpack wolverines rely on to dig dens where they birth and raise their young.
The decision Wednesday by the US Fish and Wildlife Service follows more than two decades of disputes over the risks of climate change, and threats to the long-term survival of the elusive species.
The animals resemble a small bear and are the world’s largest species of terrestrial weasels. They are sometimes called “mountain devils” for their ability to thrive in harsh alpine environments.
Protections were rejected under former President Donald Trump. A federal judge in 2022 ordered the administration of President Joe Biden to make a final decision this week on whether to seek protections.
Won’t it be interesting when half the US population is all migrating north to survive but nobody is allowed to settle because it would encroach on various endangered species. I’m joking of course but the thought popped into my mind as typical government bureaucracy.
I’d be for it. We’re invading their homes, in our current implemetation, we are bad for the environment around us.
If we can peacefully coexist with nature, then we can move north. Till then, fuck humans.
There’s a historical Native American settlement, a pueblo, near where I live that my family and I walked through a few months ago. Apparently, it has been inhabited for the last 10,000 years.
What struck me as incredibly interesting is how little space so many people required. The rooms were basically the size of a closet, even smaller in some cases. Kivas are where whole villages of hundreds of people would hang out and discuss things. They’re not even that big, like the size of a a modern living room (though some could obviously be larger). A whole pueblo’s living space took up the equivalent of like…one city block
Conversely, my SO and I are searching for a house…and she and her parents want us to get 1 house surrounded by like 2-3 acres. There’s only me and my SO! And we’re not the only ones. Given than we’re in the Southwest, people generally expect to have large houses and extra land for relatively cheap prices. And it’s like having neighbors is soooo bad, like seeing meeting eyes with them while you’re both leaving for work would be the worst thing ever. We better pay an extra $200K for that extra land.
Americans, man…idk about humans generally, but Americans really seem to not like each other.
Well, have you met us? 😆
I really miss city life. If I could have a naturally well lit, moderately spacious apartment with everything walkable, I’d be so very happy.
The shift from NYC to California’s Orange county has been dramatic in terms of my ability to get around.
It sounds like extirpation is more likely in the short term, than full extinction. Canada has a larger population than the US.
