The Case of the Mysterious White Wolverine (updated)

 I am indebted to my colleague, LM, for sending this to me.

Sadly that was all the detail the seller had. Whether it is fox, wild cat or wolverine taxidermy dealers will talk up how great and fantastic the taxidermies are, however, they have no information.  They grab to sell and make money quickly and scientific info is of no interest to them and some can be quite brusque and rude if you ask for information.

What we need for a taxidermy like this to be of use in research is date it was killed or mounted.  Location where it was killed or died. From there we can research. These images are interesting but that is it. No other info other than that the shop it was in was in North Manchester.

You will notice that this is not an albino. 

How rare are white -non-albinistic- wolverine? The thing is that very few people cover the subject of wolverines so LM and myself checked and this is what we came up with...

Again no info on where from but I suspect Russia. Seem to be quite a few wolverine there with more white than dark to their coats. The photographer's name may indicate it is from Russia -Grigore Antipa.

The two images before is of a Wolverine (Gulo gulo) walking over snow, Kamchatka, Russia

Below Victorian Alaskan taxidermy

Below from a Russian museum

And if you think those stories of wolverine being loners are fact watch this:

Translated from Russian: "Very rare footage showing a large concentration of wolverines in Yakutia. Apparently this is some kind of dump or cattle burial ground. The number of wolverines is simply amazing, and most importantly, they do not fight among themselves in the struggle for food."

Winter coats seem to become lighter in Alaska and Russia though I need to look into this more. Below a Canadian wolverine in "winter fur" (no other details)

Below in an Alaska wolverine in "winter coat"

Below no details (surprise! surprise!) apart from that it is from the United States. Love the "fancy" colouration! Thanks to Hayley de Ronde for drawing my attention to this one.

Apologies for the next photo but it shows the reality of being a wild animal and why I still consider 98% of humanity true vermin (and I do not give two **** if the killer was a "native trapper" -this is 2023). Weaselwoman writes:

"Beautiful leucistic wolverine taken near Kotzebue, Alaska by an Alaskan Native trapper. It’s a spirit wolverine! I bet his camouflage was great on the tundra. Would much rather see him alive, but he’s still a beautiful fella. 

"Leucism is not albinism. It’s a mutation to a pigment in the colour gene that makes them more pale than their usual colour. They will have normal coloured eyes, noses, claws and pawpads and even silvery grey markings.

"Another thing to this guy could be he never grew out of his baby colours. Wolverines are born white and eventually turn brown.

Sometimes wolverines can be black, ginger, and blonde, but it is extremely rare."

Below: the wolverine atop the Museum case featuring a possible Old British type fox.