Trivia question for Dec-02-2011

Carter found these guys interesting so he decided to feature them for his trivia.  These guys have dense, warm fur which allows them to hunt through the sub-zero Arctic nights.  They have a keen sense of smell and track their prey and mates by smell.  During long days of the Arctic summer, these guys forgo their nocturnal lifestyle in favor of short periods of activity and rest.

These guys are powerful and versatile predator and scavenger. Prey mainly consists of small to large-sized mammals and they have been recorded as killing prey such as adult deer that are many times larger than this predator. Prey species include porcupine, squirrel, beaver, marmot, rabbit, vole, mice, shrew, lemming, caribou, roe deer, white-tailed deer, mule deer, sheep, moose, and elk. Smaller predators are occasionally preyed on, including martens, mink, foxes, Canada lynx, Eurasian lynx, weasels, coyotes and wolf pups. These guys will often pursue live prey that is relatively easy to obtain, including animals caught in fur-bear’s traps, newborn mammals and large moose and elk when they’re weakened by winter and momentarily incapacitated by heavy snow.

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us what this animal is and what its Inuit name (Kee-wa-har-kess) means?  Also, tell us how it earned its name ‘glutton’?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations goes out to three OMG fans tonight because each one answered a different part of our trivia.  The first to identify the beastly critter was Napat Malathum, next we had Jean Netherton who gave us the definition of their Inuit name, and finally we had Angela Williams who answered why these guys earned the name glutton. The animal we featured is the Wolverine. The wolverine, pronounced /ˈwʊlvəriːn/, Gulo gulo (Gulo is Latin for “glutton”), also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae (weasels). It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids. The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times its size.

The wolverine is also known ad the devil bear, skunk bear and hyena of the north.  Its Inuit name, (Kee-wa-har-kess) means ‘the evil one’.  The wolverine earned its nickname ‘glutton’ by filling itself ravenously on carrion during the winter months, when food is normally scarce.  And according to Angela, these guys will eat til they are overfull and sometimes to the point where they can’t move anymore.  Here is more on these fearsome mammals: Wolverine

Thanks for playing along 😉