Famously elusive wolverine photographed in south Calgary

Famously fierce and elusive, wolverines are a rare sight in the Canadian wilderness, even for researchers. As such, glimpsing one in a city the size of Calgary is almost unbelievable.

Yet that'swhat happened Saturday in the southern outskirts of the city. Two wildlife photographers snapped images of the solitary carnivore as it darted through frozen marshland.

"It made quite a racket," said Gordon Cooke, one of the photographers. "I had no idea what it was until it broke out into the open and I got a couple shots of it."

A few of his images captured the wolverine perched on a log, peering out over the wetlands. The photos are clear enough to see the fur on its back clumped and wet.

To Cooke, who's been a wildlife photographer for 11 years, capturing such an elusive creature marked the apex of his career.

"This ranks the ultimate," he said. "Not just for me, this is basically the ultimate for most wildlife photographers."

Chris Fisher, an Alberta naturalist, described wolverines as icons of thenorthern woodlands and mountains. Solitary and ferocious, they've been seen to battle larger predators, such as bears, wolves and cougars.

"It's a superhero of the wilderness," Fisher said Monday on the Calgary Eyeopener. "Quite frankly, you just don't see them anywhere, never mind a major metropolitan city like Calgary."

Fisher suspects the wolverine seen on the weekend recently split with its mother, as she will need to care for new kits this spring.

He hopes the animal has fewer human encounters in the future.

Wolverines live solitary lives across large expanses of land.

Recent research suggests their numbers in and around national parks along the Alberta-B.C. border are dropping due to a combination of increased human recreation, trapping andclimate change.

Snow is believed to be an important factor in wolverine habitat. A decrease in mountain and boreal snowpack could limit female wolverines' ability tofinddenning sites to raise their young.