No, it’s not Hugh Jackman, but this wolverine sighting is exciting all the same!
Yellowstone National Park just shared video footage of a rare wolverine running through a snowy forest, marking the first time this elusive mammal has been captured on a remote camera in the park.
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“Last month, park biologists were excited to find one of Yellowstone’s rarest mammals triggered a remote trail camera outside the Mammoth Hot Springs area!” reads a caption on Yellowstone’s 5-second clip.
The park describes wolverines, some of the rarest animals in Yellowstone, as “mid-sized carnivores in the weasel family" that live in "high-elevation alpine and forest habitats."
Wolverine sightings are few and far between in the park, which became the world's first national park in 1872. Between 2006 and 2009, just seven wolverines were documented in eastern Yellowstone and adjoining national forests, according to the National Park Service.
The creatures can be anywhere from 38 to 47 inches long, and typically weigh between 13 and 31 pounds. They are “opportunistic eaters” and chow down on a wide range of foods, including beavers, birds, eggs, rodents, squirrels and vegetation.
Back in August, there was another rare sighting of a female wolverine with her offspring in Washington’s Mount Rainier National Park.
“Scientists have discovered the first reproductive female wolverine and her two offspring (called kits) in Mount Rainier National Park in over one hundred years,” the park captioned a 33-second video of three wolverines by a snowfield.
“It’s really, really exciting,” said Mount Rainier National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins in a statement at the time. “It tells us something about the condition of the park — that when we have such large-ranging carnivores present on the landscape that we’re doing a good job of managing our wilderness.”
While wolverine sightings are quite rare, the park service does have some advice if you ever happen to encounter one of these elusive mammals in the wild.
“Aggressive introverts, they don’t really play well with others,” the park service wrote on Instagram. “So keep a distance if you ever come across one.”