DaytonDailyNews.com

Ohio State is fortunate the choice of nicknames has no bearing on the outcome of sporting events.

Consider a game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines. It would be no contest if the team with the toughest name won.

The most damage a buckeye could inflict is giving you a headache it fell from a tree and hit you on the head. It might be annoying, but nothing more.

On the other hand, consider what it would be like to tangle with a real, live wolverine. Although it is only three to four feet in length and weighs 30 to 40 pounds, the wolverine is one tough animal.

Trappers in Alaska who have experience with wolverines are cautious when approaching one that has been captured in a trap. This large member of the weasel family is mean.

When it comes to ripping and tearing into flesh, only one other animal can match the wolverine. And that is the hyena.

All this is of no concern to trappers in Michigan these days. Wolverines are not plentiful anywhere and they are not found at all in the "Wolverine State."

The current range of the wolverine is the mainland of Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

Most people in Alaska and Canada probably doubt the existence of the wolverine. Sighting one of these animals would be an eventful experience.

One is more likely to smell the secretive wolverine than see it. Like most weasels, the wolverine has strong scent glands and uses them to mark its territory.

The meat-eating wolverine is capable of killing caribou and bear. What isn't consumed immediately is buried so the wolverine can return later and finish the meal.

Wolverines are fast, yet they do not rely entirely on speed to catch their prey. The cunning animal climbs to the top of a rock or a tall stump and waits patiently for prey to happen along. Then the wolverine pounces on the deer or some other animal and quickly subdues it.

The wolverine is well equipped to survive in its harsh, wintry environment. Its big, furry feet serve as snowshoes, allowing the big weasel to run over the snow while chasing other animals.

While the wolverine has most characteristics needed to survive in the far north, it is lacking in a few categories. Wolverines have bad eyesight and they are said to be clumsy.

In contrast with a rabbit that has a small home territory of less than a half mile, a wolverine may cover 200 square miles.

Taking a wolverine is a great catch for a trapper in the far north. Here, where freezing temperatures are common in the winter, there is nothing that feels so good as having smooth, soft wolverine fur lining a trapper's parka and hood.

Contact Jim Robey at Dayton Daily News, 1611 S. Main St., Dayton, OH 45409.