Wolverines depend on persistent deep snowpack for denning and rearing kits, making them among the mammals most acutely threatened by climate-driven snow loss in mountain ecosystems.
The welfare implications of snow loss for wolverines are most acute for newborn kits whose survival depends entirely on the thermal insulation of deep snow dens. Kits born in inadequate snow cover are exposed to lethal temperatures, and mothers whose dens collapse or become thermally insufficient may lose entire litters. Adult wolverines caching food under snow in winter lose this critical survival strategy as snowpack decreases. The combination of reproductive failure and impaired food security creates a compounding welfare and population threat that cannot be addressed at the individual or population level — only climate stabilization can preserve wolverine denning habitat.