Indigenous communities across North America and Russia have coexisted with wolverines for thousands of years. Their ecological knowledge provides welfare and conservation insights unavailable to Western science.
Indigenous knowledge systems offer perspectives on wolverine welfare and conservation that complement scientific monitoring. Traditional ecological knowledge accumulated over generations captures long-term population trends and behavioral patterns that modern science has only recently begun to document. Indigenous stewardship practices in wolverine habitat often protected populations through culturally embedded conservation ethics that predate formal conservation as a discipline. Co-management frameworks that give Indigenous communities decision-making authority over wolverine management in their territories improve both conservation outcomes and respect for traditional relationships with the land. Extractive resource industries that damage wolverine habitat often conflict with Indigenous land rights, creating legal and ethical dimensions to wolverine welfare that extend beyond biology.