Reproductive characteristics of female wolverines (gulo gulo) in Scandinavia

We studied reproduction of 56 female wolverines (Gulo gulo) in 2 areas of northern Scandinavia. Minimum average age at 1st reproduction was 3.4 years. Mean proportion of females (??3 years old) reproducing was 0.53 (95% confidence interval [CI] ¼ 0.43–0.63, n ¼ 94), and the annual mean was 0.58 (95% CI ¼ 0.35–0.80, n ¼ 83). Mean annual birth rate was 0.74 (95% CI ¼ 0.33–1.14, n ¼ 83) young per female (?? 3 years old). Mean size of 74 litters was 1.88 (95% CI ¼ 1.68–2.07, range ¼ 1–4). Examination of our data suggests that female wolverines have low productivity and low capacity to compensate for increased mortality. Therefore, wildlife managers should consider wolverine demographics, especially mortality of adult female wolverines, when developing and implementing conservation policies and harvest regulations