Wolverines depend heavily on winter carrion, particularly ungulate carcasses. Understanding their food security needs informs conservation management approaches.
Wolverine welfare depends on a landscape that provides both food security through winter and den sites for reproduction. Declining ungulate populations — often related to predator absence or overhunting — reduce carrion availability that wolverines depend on for winter nutrition. Climate warming degrades permafrost that wolverines use for food caching, reducing their ability to provision cubs through lean periods. Management that maintains healthy ungulate populations and predator communities providing carrion through natural mortality directly supports wolverine food security and welfare.