Going East…to West-12

Wild Life in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park has the largest concentration of wildlife in the lower 48 states. The wildlife that visitors want to see the most in Yellowstone are Bears, Wolves, Moose, Elk, Bison, Badgers, Otters, Fox and any newborn critter.

The following are the National Park Service Statistics for the wildlife of Yellowstone:

• 61 Different mammals

• Along with black bears over 500 grizzlies live in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem

• Gray wolves were restored in 1995; more than 370 live in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem..

• Wolverine and Lynx live in the park and are some of the rarest mammals to spot.

• Seven native species of ungulates—elk, mule deer, bison, moose, bighorn sheep, pronghorn and white-tailed deer—live

  here, including one of the largest herds of elk in the United States.

• Non-native mountain goats have colonized the northwestern and northeastern portions of the park.

          (Taken from www.yellowstonenationalpark.com/wildlife.htm)

Bison once numbered between 30 and 60 million throughout North America, and Yellowstone remains one of their last strongholds. Their populations had increased from less than 50 in the park in 1902 to 4,000 by 2003. The park's bison population reached a peak in 2005 with 4,900 animals. The relatively large bison populations are a concern for ranchers, who fear that the species can transmit bovine diseases to their domesticated cousins. However, the animal activists argue that the possibility for disease transmission is not as great as some ranchers apprehend.

Starting in 1914, in an effort to protect elk populations, the U.S. Congress appropriated funds to be used for the purposes of  destroying wolves and by 1926 Park Service had killed 136 wolves, and wolves were virtually eliminated from Yellowstone. Wolf was one of the first mammal species to be listed as endangered with the passing of the Endangered Species Act in 1973 and by the 1990s, Federal government had reversed its views on wolves. 66 Canadian wolves were reintroduced in 1995/96 and this reintroduction has stabilized the populations. A survey conducted in 2005 reported that there were 13 wolf packs, totaling 118 individuals in Yellowstone and 326 in the entire ecosystem. Consequently, on February 27, 2008 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population from the endangered species list. 

An estimated 600 grizzly bears live in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, with more than half of the population living within Yellowstone. The grizzly is currently listed as a threatened species, however the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that they intend to take it off the endangered species list for the Yellowstone region.

Population figures for elk are in excess of 30,000—the largest population of any large mammal species in Yellowstone. The northern herd has decreased enormously since the mid-1990s, and this has been attributed to wolf predation and causal effects such as elk using more forested regions to evade predation, consequently making it harder for researchers to accurately count them. The northern herd migrates west into southwestern Montana in the winter. The southern herd migrates southward, and the majority of these elk winter on the National Elk Refuge, immediately southeast of Grand Teton National Park.

In 2003, the tracks of one female lynx and her cub were spotted and followed for over three kilometers. Fecal material and other evidence obtained were tested and confirmed to be those of a lynx. No visual confirmation was made, however. Lynx have not been seen in Yellowstone since 1998. Other less commonly seen mammals include the mountain lion and wolverine. The mountain lion has an estimated population of only 25 individuals parkwide but accurate population figures for wolverine are not known.

Eighteen species of fish live in Yellowstone, including the core range of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout —a fish highly sought by anglers. Native sport fish species caught in Yellowstone waterways are subject to a catch and release law. Yellowstone is also home to six species of reptiles, such as the painted turtle and western rattlesnake, and four species of amphibians, including the Boreal Chorus Frog.

311 species of birds have been reported, almost half of which nest in Yellowstone. As of 1999, twenty-six pairs of nesting bald eagles have been documented. Extremely rare sightings of whooping cranes have been recorded, however only three examples of this species are known to live in the Rocky Mountains, out of 385 known worldwide.

                   (Extracted from Wikipedia)

  We were fortunate in sharing a road with a small herd of bison as you can see from the pictures below. We could site a lone bear cub and managed to ‘shoot’ it before it disappeared. We did sight a bald eagle but not in the Yellowstone National Park. We saw it clearly while taking a raft-ride in Snake river in the Grand Teton National park with our helmsman doubling as our guide. Bison are probably the most visible wildlife in Yellowstone; one can see them sometimes in close vicinity of the hotels and lodges. Deer, of all kinds, come next. Now onto the pictures……