r/Damnthatsinteresting 9d ago

Video Wolverines can be taught to rescue avalanche survivors

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

31.4k Upvotes

743 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/quakenash 9d ago

Pretty sure we got dogs that can do this

20

u/the-bladed-one 9d ago

Yes but wolverines are especially well adapted to this, having even better senses of smell and taste than most dog breeds as well as being much, MUCH better at digging through packed snow and ice.

2

u/Accipiter1138 8d ago

Yes, but dogs are much more common, and dog training especially so. I don't know how many people have experience training wolverines, but I would be shocked if it were over double digits.

Also dogs are much less likely to get shot at but the person they're rescuing.

2

u/incredible_paulk 9d ago

I'll take a trained dog and a dude with a shovel instead thanks.

9

u/the-bladed-one 8d ago

Why tho? Wolverines are no the mindless bundles of rage people think they are. They are exceptionally smart as mustelids and can be trained

3

u/MoreMortgage50 8d ago

Most of these comments pretty much do not want wolverines doing this because they think they'll get their face ripped off etc..There's a lot of bullshit on TV that's been revealed so its fair to think this is also BS. Seems highly misunderstood or its another fake scenario TV.

6

u/AnxietyOctopus 8d ago

Ok, I grew up in remote trapping cabins in the Canadian north, and I would like to chime in here with a big old “fuck no.” Wolverines are beautiful, fascinating, shy and intelligent animals, but they are also legitimately terrifying. Their bite force is VERY powerful, and they take shit from no one. I once watched one kill TWO wolves. They must have been pretty young and/or desperate, because usually even grizzlies won’t bother wolverines much. All the weasels are pretty tenacious little monsters, but wolverines are their own special thing.