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Wolverines are found primarily in the more remote areas of mainland Alaska and on some islands in Southeast Alaska. Because wolverines require large amounts of wilderness (the home range of a male may be up to 240 sq. mi.), they are sparsely distributed throughout their range. Wolverines are solitary, except during the May–August breeding season. Wolverines are better adapted for scavenging than for hunting and are opportunistic eaters. During winter, they primarily eat the carcasses of animals that have died of natural causes and the carcasses of moose and caribou left by wolves and hunters. The rest of the year their diet consists of smaller animals, such as voles, squirrels, snowshoe hares, and birds. On rare occasions, wolverines may kill moose or caribou.
Marten are found from Southeast Alaska to the start of treeless tundra in Alaska's north and west. Marten are abundant in Alaska, being most common in the bogs and black spruce forests of Interior Alaska. In much of their range, especially in less optimal habitat, meadow voles and red-backed voles are marten's primary food source. Other important food sources include berries, small birds, eggs, plants, and carrion. Red squirrels, which are a major food source for martens in other areas, are not generally eaten by martens in Alaska. Marten are Alaska's most trapped animal, and as of 1994 generated $1–2 million in income in the state. In most areas, overtrapping is not a management problem.
Mink are found in every region of Alaska except Kodiak Island, the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea offshore islands, and most of the North Slope. Mink are opportunistic hunters, eating almost anything that they can kill; important food sources include fish, birds, bird eggs, insects, crabs, clams, and small mammals. Wolves, foxes, hawks, owls, lynx, and river otters occasionally prey on mink, but the effects of predation on mink population have been studied relatively little. In Alaska, Mink are sometimes trapped for their fur.
Early Russian settlement of Alaska can largely be credited to the sea otter industry; sea otter fur is perhaps the finest in the world. Sea otters were hunted nearly to extinction in the late 19th century. In 1911, when sea otters were so scarce that hunting was no longer profitable, they were protected under the international Fur Seal Treaty, and after further conservation measures the sea otter population increased from 2,000 to between 110,000 and 160,000 from 1911 to the mid-1970s. Today, most of the species' original habitat in Alaska has been repopulated, except for some areas of the Southeast. In Southeast Alaska, where sea otters were reintroduced in the 1960s,[24] sea otters continue to expand.
