Killer wolverines once roamed Yorkshire Dales after potholer’s Ice Age discovery

Dubbed the ‘Arctic’s ultimate animal survivor’, Wolverines have a ferocious reputation that is not to be messed with.

The giant weasels have lived and hunted in the Arctic and subarctic regions for centuries.

But now a new discovery – by a hobby caving club – has revealed that the fierce animals once roamed the Yorkshire Dales.

A Wolverine’s remains, dating back 80,000 years, have been dug up in a Yorkshire cave.

The discovery was made at Stump Cross Cavern, where teams have been working to open up a new section of the 300-million-year-old cave system for visitors.

Members of Craven Potholing Club have been digging by hand in the new C Chamber for over a year in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Caver Rowan Worsman was going through buckets of rubble when she spotted something white.

She had discovered a part of a jaw, still containing teeth, of a wolverine from as far back as the Ice Age, some 80,000 years ago.

‘It is quite exciting,’ said Rowan, a member of Craven Pothole Club.

‘It’s hard work, you get cold, wet and dirty down there and when you find something like that you think maybe it’s worth it.’

The find has sparked a host of questions about how a wolverine ended up in Stump Cross Cavern.

One theory is that it entered the cave system by the smell of decaying wild animals, which had fallen into the natural pit trap.

What are wolverines?

Wolverines are a member of the weasel family but resemble a small, squat, broad bears.

They are around 65 to 104cm long, with a bushy tail as long as 26cm, according to Britannica.

The animals now live in in cold northern parts of North America and Eurasia, in particular in timbered areas.

Wolverines are known for their strength, cunning, fearlessness, and voracity.

They are renowned for their ability to face down and fight larger predators that are more than twice its size.

Tom Thompson, who is coordinating the dig, explained: ‘It’s the kind of predator that leaps on something and tears it to pieces, and is about the size of a sheep.

‘They’d smell the animals that had fallen into the pit, climb in, consume the animals, then might not be able to get out.

‘The scientific evidence is that they ended up cannibalising each other.

‘Then there was a tremendous flood, water pours into the cave and the wolverines are washed into the lowest part and get covered in stalactites and that’s how they were preserved.’

Tom said the group had been allowed to dig at the site by Natural England, who gave the green light for them to remove rubble from previous digging operations.

The team have dug out 75 tonnes already and have another 200 tonnes left to haul out.

The target is to open the new C Chamber in 2028, making it the first new section of the cave to open in 25 years.

Director Oliver Bowerman praised the cavers’ hard graft which will eventually create a 75-metre extension into a “beautifully decorated” cave as well as providing a circular route round the cavern.

‘The cavers are explorers, they’ve been digging voluntarily for a long time, and come as far away as Hull and Lancashire.

‘Historically we’ve found wolverines, reindeer, bison, various different Ice Age animals.

‘I’d put my life savings on there being a lot more down there.

‘A wolverine in Yorkshire is not something many people know about and it will be a brilliant display piece for us.’

The specimen will be now be preserved and studied by palaeontologists hoping to learn more about animal life during the Ice Age on the Yorkshire Dales.

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