THE GLUTTON.[164]
The Glutton, or Wolverene, the largest of the Weasel group, is found over the greater part of the northern regions, both of the Old and New Worlds, being especially abundant in Siberia and Kamtchatka. It attains a length of some three feet four inches, ten inches of which go to the tail. It has a Dog-like snout, a broad or rounded head, short ears, an arched back, a short bushy tail, and long, dark brown or almost black fur. A band of pale reddish-brown runs along the sides, and unites with the corresponding band of the opposite side on the rump.
The skull is very strong and massive, and the jaws bear altogether thirty-eight teeth. The number of the incisors, canines, and premolars corresponds with that we have found in the Arctoids; but the molars are reduced to one on each side in the upper, and two on each side in the lower jaw.[165]The mode of progression is semi-plantigrade, and the animal’s movements are, compared with those of its nearest allies, the Martens and Weasels, slow and clumsy; unlike these, too, it is not a good climber, although the older accounts of its customs stated that it was in the habit of climbing trees, and dropping suddenly down upon large animals as they passed, and then destroying them as they fled in terror at the unexpected attack. In this, as in many other instances, the imagination has largely been called into play to supplement what was deficient in the actual observations of the writers. Probably few animals have given rise to so many or such wild fables as the Wolverene. Its name ofGluttonis due to the mythical account of its habits given by an early writer, Olaus Magnus, who says: “It is wont, when it has found the carcass of some large beast, to eat until its belly is distended like a drum, when it rids itself of its load by squeezing its body betwixt two trees growing near together, and again returning to its repast, soon requires to have recourse to the same means of relief.” It need hardly be said that this story must be takencum grano salis maximo.
GLUTTON.
GLUTTON.
Besides its great strength, the Wolverene is noted for its excessive cunning, and the two qualities combined give it a power of destructiveness of which one would hardly expect any animal below a schoolboy to be capable. One of its favourite tricks is to frequent the “Marten-roads”—that is, the lines of traps for catching Martens—and one by one to demolish the traps, and carry off either the bait or the imprisoned animal. To make matters worse for the unlucky trapper, the Glutton’s experience and knowledge of traps in general are so great that he shows equal skill in avoiding theseset for his own benefit as in despoiling those meant for others; either he takes no notice of them, or carefully pulls them to pieces, and so gets the bait and outwits the hunter, without danger to himself. It is only in a trap constructed with the greatest care, and disguised so as to resemble a “câche,” or store of hidden food, that the wary beast can be caught. Mr. Lockhart, an American writer, quoted by Dr. Coues, gives some really charming instances of his own experience in trying to get the better of his inveterate enemy. In one case, he had carefully buried a Lynx’s skin in the snow, to the depth of some three feet; the snow was arranged so as to present a perfectly undisturbed appearance, and the Lynx’s entrails and blood were strewed about, and its carcass left, so as to take off the scent. On returning next morning to his beautifully-made “câche,” he found the carcass, &c., gone, but everything else apparently just as he had left it. His joy was great, but premature; for on digging, no skin was to be found: the Wolverene had stolen it during the night, but had added insult to injury by filling up the hole, and putting everythingin statu quo.
Mr. Lockhart gives another equally astonishing instance of the Wolverene’s ability:—“At Peel’s River, on one occasion, a very old Carcajou [the trapper’s name for the Glutton] discovered my Marten-road, on which I had nearly a hundred and fifty traps. I was in the habit of visiting the line about once a fortnight; but the beast fell into the way of coming oftener than I did, to my great annoyance and vexation. I determined to put a stop to his thieving and his life together, cost what it might. So I made six strong traps at as many different points, and also set three steel traps. For three weeks I tried my best to catch the beast, without success; and my worst enemy would allow that I am no green hand in these matters. The animal carefully avoided the traps set for his own benefit, and seemed to take more delight than ever in demolishing my Marten-traps, and eating the Martens, scattering the poles in every direction, and câching what baits or Martens he did not devour on the spot. As we had no poison in those days, I next set a gun on the bank of a little lake. The gun was concealed in some low bushes, but the bait was so placed that the Carcajou must see it on his way up the bank. I blockaded my path to the gun with a small pine-tree, which completely hid it. On my first visit afterwards, I found that the beast had gone up to the bait and smelled it, but had left it untouched. He had next pulled up the pine-tree that blocked the path, and gone around the gun and cut the line which connected the bait with the trigger just behind the muzzle. Then he had gone back and pulled the bait away, and carried it out on the lake, where he laid down and devoured it at his leisure. There I found my string. I could scarcely believe that all this had been done designedly, for it seemed that faculties fully on a par with human reason would be required for such an exploit, if done intentionally. I therefore re-arranged things, tying the string where it had been bitten. But the result was exactly the same for three successive occasions, as I could plainly see by the footprints; and what is most singular of all, each time the brute was careful to cut the line a little back of where it had been tied before, as if actually reasoning with himself that even the knots might be some new device of mine, and therefore a source of hidden danger he would prudently avoid. I came to the conclusion thatthatCarcajou ought to live, as he must be something at least human, if not worse. I gave it up, and abandoned the road for a period.”
One very extraordinary habit of the Wolverene is shared by very few animals except man. It is stated by Dr. Coues that, when it meets a man, it will often, if it be to windward, approach within fifty or sixty yards, and then, sitting calmly down on its haunches, will shade its eyes with one fore-paw, and gaze earnestly at its enemy. This very human action it will often repeat two or three times before attempting to flee.