This is the photo taken by Katie Moriarty as she researched weasels.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- An Oregon student's research project aimed at weasels has turned up a bigger prize: a picture of a wolverine.

Oregon State University graduate student Katie Moriarty said the finding was "hugely unexpected."

The elusive animal scientists feared may have been driven out of the Sierra Nevada long ago by human activity.

The discovery could affect land-use decisions if the wolverine is declared an endangered species -- a step the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering.

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During her research project, Moriarty got a picture of the wolverine recently on a motion-and-heat-detecting digital camera. It was set up between Truckee and Sierraville, in the northern part of the mountain range.

Moriarty was trying to get pictures of slender brown weasels, for a project she was doing with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station.

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She said that when she saw the wolverine in the picture it was a "complete shock."