Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-04-18
The WOLVERINE.
A Eorocious Animal That Lives Only in
the North Woods of Michigan.

A EoEocious Animal That Lives Only in
the North Woods of Michigan.
michigan is called the Wolverine state
but don't believe there are two dozen per-
sons outside OF that state that know what a
wolverine isl said native of the Green bay
region. "For that matter, the people in
Michigan itself who can tell you what vol
VERNE is are mighty scarce. Why this ami
NAL should be particularly a resident of the
Michigan wilderness / do not know; but |
never heard of it being seen or heard of else
where The wolf is a common animal all
over the west, or at least it was before civil
ization limited its habitat, and the black
bear is also found everywhere in greater or
less numbers Then why should the wolver-
inc only have made its appearance in Michi-
gan, where it was in the pioneer days as
plenty almost as the wolf, and even now is a
dreaded frequenter OF the woods of the
northern part of the statea The wolverine is
an animal that has some of characteristics Of
the wolf, and partakes in other ways of the
nature of the bear The old settlers of Michi-
gan ALWAYS insisted that the animal was a
cross between those two beasts, and that is
the opinion of north Michigan woodsmen to-
day. When Michigan was admitted into the
Union the wolverine was still common, in
fact infested all the forests of the state, and
the state was named after him, owing to
some of the characteristics of the animal adj
mired by the hardy pioneers who hewed a
commonwealth out of the great wilderness
they found about their inland sea.
at is a singular fact that no museum or
geological garden has ever yet had a speci
men of this unique member of the animal
kingdom. say it is singular, and do not
know that it is either, for the reason that
they have never exhibited the wolverine is
the great difficulty, not to say impossibility,
of capturing it alive, or of keeping it alive
after it is captured They are the most saw
age Of beasts. They have the ugly temper of
the wolf, which they resemble in appearance,
but in size and savageness they resemble the
bear of the western Businesses. But while
having the size and savageness Of the bear,
they excel him In aggressiveness and ferocity.
They do not have his clumsiness. Their wolf
ish appearance makes the fact that they are
expert and agile tree climbers seem odd. In
lying in wait for their prey they also resem-
BILE the panther, for they will crouch closely
in the branches or forks Of a tree and drop
down upon their victim like one of those great
members of the cat family
"They will attack a man in this way as
readily as they would fawn, and many an
unwary hunter in the Michigan woods has
fallen victim to some hungry and undis
eliminating wolverine. The claws of this
strange animal are much longer and sharper
than the bears and their teeth bigger and
more pointed and curved. Their wariness is
said by hunters to exceed that of any animal
on the continent, and they are seldom hunted
for the sport Of the thing, the danger being
too great 1t is only when wolverine has
made his presence so destructive to the pas
lures and sheepfolds of the backwoods far
mers that the entire loss of their stock is
feared that the farmers organize for raid
on the wolverines, usually employing num-
Der of expert and daring woodsmen to direct
the hunt l can't see for myself what the
pioneers of Michigan saw in this animal to
perpetuate its memory by nicknaming their
state after it, but the name is there, and
Michigan will remain the Wolverine state
long after the wolverine is extinct. New
York Sun