Our Animals that wander huge distances like the Wolverine would like to come back to former haunts like Michigan

DNA testing shows Michigan's last known wild wolverine likely came from across Lake Huron

Published: Wednesday, September 01, 2010, 4:00 PM     Updated: Wednesday, September 01, 2010, 8:29 PM

 Brandon Howell | The Bay City Times

 

DNA testing shows Michigan's last known wild wolverine is a 79 percent genetic match with wolverines from Manitoba and Ontario.

 

DECKERVILLE — Extensive testing supports the theory that Michigan's last known wild wolverine — which was found dead along a trail in Sanilac County in March — likely crossed the ice into Michigan from Manitoba or Ontario in Canada, according to the man who discovered and tracked the animal for six years.

Jeff Ford, a science teacher at Deckerville High School, said DNA testing commissioned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment shows that the wolverine is a 79 percent match with DNA samples of wolverines from Manitoba and Ontario and only a 21 percent match with DNA of wolverines from Canada's Northwest Territories.

"So what that means is," Ford said, "because her DNA matched much more closely with Ontario than over towards the Northwest Territories, it's more likely that she came from Ontario across the ice than if she was transported by humans from British Columbia or somewhere like that.

 

"In other words," he continued, "the DNRE's been saying all along that she was probably a household pet until they let her go or she got loose. 

"No. 1 is, she had all her claws and all her teeth. If you're going to have an animal like that, you're probably going to declaw it as a pet. 

"No. 2 is, if she was a pet, she probably would come from Alaska or Northwest Territories, up there, because there's a lot more live-trapping that goes on up there."

 

Mary Detloff, a public information officer for the DNRE, said Ford is wrong about the department's theories.

"I don't think we've ever asserted that it was a household pet. I've never heard that one before," Detloff said. "We thought perhaps it came across the ice, but we couldn't determine exactly how it got here."

 

Detloff declined to comment on the likelihood that the wolverine actually crossed the ice from Canada into Michigan.

Ford received the information from Audrey Magoun, a biologist and executive director of The Wolverine Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization in Alaska comprised of wildlife scientists that promotes interest in the wolverines' status and ecological role. Ford has worked with Magoun — whom he calls one of the "top wolverine experts around the entire world" — since he first discovered the wolverine in Michigan's Thumb.

 

Magoun could not be contacted by The Times for comment. 

"I wouldn't even know about this because the DNRE hasn't told me anything," Ford said. "But the DNRE sent this to (Magoun) and she forwarded the results to me."

The DNA testing was performed on some of the wolverine's muscle tissue by Chris Kyle, a Canadian geneticist, according to Ford.

 

Earlier genetic testing had been conducted on hair samples from the wolverine.

"This analysis is a little more specific because muscle tissue is better to do DNA on than hair follicles," Ford said.

The body of the 28-pound female wolverine was found in a ditch by two hikers in the Minden Bog at the Minden City State Game Area. Biologists determined later that it died of natural causes.