Number and distribution of wolverines
The wolverine is met in small numbers in the wilderness areas of Finland's northern and eastern regions. Occasionally, adventurous wolverine specimens will also make their way into the central parts of our country. The wolverine steers clear of populated areas and requires a lot of space. The territory of male wolverines may span several thousand square kilometres and several females may live within the territory of a single male. The territories of female wolverines are a few hundred square kilometres wide.
The data collected via Finland's large carnivore sighting network allows analysts to create distribution maps for each of our large carnivore species. These maps show the number of large carnivore sightings per unit of area. They may be used to find out regional differences in the density of large carnivore populations but they cannot be directly used for estimating the actual numbers of the predators.
Maps on the distribution of wolverines and the most recent estimates of the number of wolverines in Finland may be found on Natural Resources Institute Finland’s (Luke) website (in Finnish).
