Here an incredible video, northern Norway 2017: a Wolverine killing a Reindeer in blizzard.
And I spent three nights in a hide just few meters from Wolverines, armed only with a pair of binoculars! 😀
Wolverine killing a Reindeer – Video
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Brutal.
Hard to see exactly how the wolverine subdued the larger prey. I saw this once while guiding for big game in northern British Columbia in 1970. In that case, the wolverine grabbed the caribou’s (a mature male) nose and hung on, apparently keeping the caribou from breathing. In the present case, it looks like the wolverine did the same, except that one of the times that he let go (or was thrown off), he went around behind and hamstrung the caribou. After that, the caribou could only use one leg to stand and repeatedly fell down at the back end.
There is even a very reliable report of an Eskimo hunter in 1944 in Point Hope, Alaska, of a Wolverine that killed a Polar Bear leaping to it and seizing his throat.
Honey badgers will also tackle large prey, except they typically go for the testicles as the weak spot. I think I’d prefer a run in with a wolverine if I’m honest.
In areas where reindeer occur, particularly in places with deep snow, they are usually wolverines’ staple food in winter. I once snow-tracked a wolverine in northern Komi Republic that killed two wild reindeer in 11 days. Later on the same trip I snow-tracked a lynx that ended up getting caught by a wolf pack in a bog with now big trees and was torn to pieces but not eaten; a wolverine that apparently was following the wolves later showed up and ate the lynx.