An outdoorsman could spend most of his life in the woods and never spot a wolverine.

The elusive carnivore, patrolling its vast home range, travels hundreds of miles across mountainous terrain, always moving from one place to the next. And it doesn't much care for company - the wolverine's population density is extremely low, which means the creature is extremely rare.

Glacier National Park, for example - a vast wilderness of 1 million acres - is home to just 40 or 50 wolverines.

"I've always been interested in the animal primarily because there's so little known about it," said wildlife biologist Jeff Copeland. "We're starting to develop our understanding of the animal's ecological requirements. Compared to other species, it's still kind of a dinosaur in that regard."

Copeland has studied wolverines since the early 1990s, when he started tracking them down in remote regions of central Idaho. He worked for Idaho Fish and Game until 2003, then joined the Forest Service at the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Mont.

Wolverine expeditions have taken him to Canada, Alaska, Mongolia and Scandinavia. Animal Planet and PBS Nature have featured Copeland in television series, according to a press release.

He retired from the Missoula station last May, but is continuing his wolverine research.

"I'm still working on data that I collected with the Forest Service, and I'm also a co-founding director of The Wolverine Foundation (an international nonprofit)," Copeland said.

The biologist will visit the Lake City on Tuesday, April 12, for a meeting of the Coeur d'Alene Audubon Society at Lutheran Church of the Master. At 7 p.m., he will discuss the wolverine's characteristics, ongoing research and management issues.

The public is invited to attend.

"I think it's going to be great," said Carrie Hugo, president of Coeur d'Alene Audubon. "It's going to be a privilege to have him come speak for us. The wolverine's a charismatic species."

Wolverines live in North Idaho, but they're not easy to find. IDFG is conducting research in the Selkirk and West Cabinet mountains, according to Regional Wildlife Manager Jim Hayden.

"In all the mountains of the Panhandle, we've seen wolverine tracks," he said.

Fish and Game biologists are using cameras and traps to learn more about the animal. Working high in the mountains, IDFG has captured some photographs of roving wolverines.

The animals spend much of their time in the high country, where females dig dens beneath the snowpack. Wolverines do, however, descend to lower elevations during their long travels, Copeland and Hayden explained.

It's not impossible to spy a wolverine on a logging road near Coeur d'Alene - it's just not very probable.

"We have them reported in a lot of lower-elevation areas," Hayden said. "They cross creeks all the time."

There are many stories and legends associated with wolverines. They're often portrayed as ferocious animals, sharp-clawed and razor-toothed, capable of fighting off grizzly bears or packs of wolves.

The critters are certainly tough, but the rumors are a little farfetched, Copeland said. Unlike their comic-book namesake, wolverines do not have long, terrifying claws, and their heavy teeth are designed for grabbing frozen meat, not cutting into live flesh.

"They are ferocious. They are tenacious animals," Copeland said. "But not necessarily to the level that legend and myth has carried it."

During the winter, wolverines usually scavenge for their food, sniffing out dead carcasses buried in the snow. In warmer months they will hunt for small rodents and birds.

In northern Canada, Alaska and Scandinavia, the beefiest males might weigh more than 40 pounds - big enough to take down a large mammal.

"They're very well adapted to cold, Arctic-type environments," Copeland said. "In Scandinavia, the wolverine is a primary predator on semi-domesticated reindeer (caribou) and domestic sheep."

And they're hardy.

"They have such incredible endurance that they'll cross mountains like you and I cross the street," Copeland said.

Wolverines in North Idaho and western Montana are usually around 30 pounds, smaller than their northern cousins, he added. There could be as few as 250 wolverines living in the contiguous United States today.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has considered placing wolverines on the endangered species list. Climate change threatens their survival; heavy snowpack is a critical factor when a female creates a den for her young.

Winter recreation is another potential threat: In alpine areas where backcountry skiing and snowmobiling are popular, dens could be at risk.

But for now, the wolverine is not listed as an endangered species, and research is ongoing.

"My fear is that the population can blink out, for whatever reason, without us ever knowing they were there in the first place," Copeland said.

Copeland's presentation on Tuesday is free. Lutheran Church of the Master is on the northeast corner of Kathleen and Ramsey in Coeur d'Alene.