The Fremont Clipper

A PAIR OF WOLVERINES

THE

STRANGE

BEASTS

IN

THE

PHILADELPHIA

ZOO.

The Terror of Trappers' Home Natural

History--Fight

Worse Than a Grizzly

Bear--How This Pair of Rare Animals

Was Obtained and How They Live.

Superintendent Brown, of the Zoological

Garden, is happy: Head Keeper Byrnes

is radiant and every under keeper reflects

the happiness and cheerfulness of their

superiors. A pair of wolverines has been

received at the garden and bid fair to live,

grow and otherwise conduct themselves

as well regulated wolverines should.

A visit to the garden brought forth a

most interesting talk from Head Keeper

Byrnes, which was supplemented by a

long and accurate scientific description

of the gulo luscus, as this animal is called.

What is particularly gratifying is the

fact that this pair, now in possession of

the Philadelphia Zoological Garden, is

the only pair known to be in captivity.

and for that matter no other garden has

even a single specimen.

SOME NATURAL HISTORY.

The animal belongs to the badger

family and is extremely shy and retiring

in disposition. It is a habitant of the

entire northern hemisphere and is not

very plentiful in any locality. It has

been known to zoologists for a long time,

yet about it have been related more mar-

velous tales than even of the salamander

or chameleon.

All over the world where it is found

native hunters tell incredible tales of its

ferocity and voracity. As far back as 1562

Olaf Magnus, a Scandinavian writer,

mentions the wolverine and tells how,

after gorging itself with food, it will try

to squeeze itself between two closely

growing trees to enable it to digest its

meals, after which it will again return

to devour more.

Every district nearly gives it a name

and it is indiscriminately called the In-

dian devil, the glutton, the quickhatch,

the carcajou.

Linnaeus describes the animal under

the name of the one-eyed glutton, and

the term one-eyed is supposed to have

come from the fact that the only speci-

men he ever saw or heard described was

blind in one eye.

The western trappers give the wol-

verine a reputation for craftiness, cun-

ning and general devilishness equaled by

no other animal. They claim that it

will fight worse than a grizzly bear. In

fact, a scout of Superintendent Brown's

described to him a fight between a wol-

verine and a she grizzly with two half-

grown cubs, in which the wolverine

conquered its opponents, and declared

that he witnessed the whole battle from

a tree.

Of course the shyness and suspicious-

ness of the animal has much to do with

these tales, but there is no doubt that it

is far more powerful than one would

suspect from its size, which is about that

of a half-grown setter dog. It is a terror

to trappers from the way it will steal the

bait from their traps, and if caught will

fight desperately.

The little ones at the garden now have

already proved their ferocity by chewing

the hands of two of the keepers who im-

prudently handled them.

HOW THE GARDEN GOT THEM.

How the Zoo obtained the specimens

it now has is a most interesting story.

A specimen was sent to the garden some

ten years ago which had been caught in

a trap in Idaho, and had its foot badly

torn.

This was never put on exhibition, for

it died about half an hour after its arri-

val, but it was stuffed and is now on ex-

hibition in the superintendent's private

room. Some six years ago Superintendent

Brown was returning from a hunting trip

in the west, he stopped in a furrier's in

Chicago, where he saw a wolverine's skin.

One word led to another, and he made arrangements with

the firm that if they heard of any live

ones being captured to notify him.

The other day he received a telegram

stating that the father and mother hav-

ing both been shot he could obtain a pair

of young wolverines if he desired them.

To receive such news was to a man of

his energy and decision equivalent to

having them, so in answer to his prompt

reply expressing an earnest desire to get

them the young animals were sent on.

They arrived in excellent condition and

are now occupying comfortable quarters

near the aviary.

Their appetite for small birds, the food

that is given them, has not as yet been

anywhere near satisfied, and they seem

to well deserve their popular name of

glutton. In appearance at the present

time they resemble a large skunk, hav-

ing the same long body, long hair and

short legs.

They have a habit of sitting up on

their haunches and shading their eyes

with one paw whenever anything at-

tracts their attention.

Head Keeper Byrnes says that though

they haven't been with him long enough

to notice their habits correctly, yet he

don't believe they are half as bad as they

are said to be. "Though," he added,

"they did nearly chew up the hand of a

careless keeper."

He's confident that he will be able to

raise them successfully, and even now

trots around to their cage and gazes

affectionately at the pets every ten

minutes or so.

Superintendent Brown explained their

habits and told many tales he had heard

about these beasts and seemed delighted

at having found specimens of an animal

no other zoological garden has, or prob-

ably will be able to get for some time to

come. - Philadelphia Times.