Bull elk forages in a pond west of Old Faithful
in Yellowstone National Park
Elk were named by the early settlers,
but some people prefer to call it by the Shawnee
name wapiti (WAA-pi-tea)
meaning "white rump." The name "elk" is a bit confusing
because in Europe, moose are called "elk." and the European "red
deer" is the same as the North American elk, which muddies
the water even further. Evidently the same naming scheme
that called for the American bison to be called a buffalo.
Elk were valued by the early settlers and Native Americans
as a valuable food source, hides and fur for clothing,
and antlers for utensils and trophies. Today elk are
economically valuable for hunting and tourism they bring
to the mountains of the west.
At the turn of the century, commercial game
hunters, hired riflemen and subsistence hunters had killed
off
most of the elk in the west. In 1910, the U.S. Forest
Service estimated that fewer than 1,000 elk remained
in Colorado. A 1918 survey of Forest Service lands in
Idaho showed only 610 elk remained. Places where elk
had been protected, these prolific animals rebounded
quickly. The winters of 1897, 1909, 1911 and 1917 all
coinciding with the loss of their traditional wintering
grounds to cattle ranching were also very tough on them.
About 10,000 elk starved in Jackson Hole during the
winter of 1897, a decade before Jackson Hole became
the home of the National Elk Refuge.------------------------> More.....
Large buck mule deer on his winter range south of
Jackson Hole Wyoming
Mule deer can be found throughout the
entire western United States, including the deserts
of the American Southwest,
Mule deer have large ears that move constantly and independently,
as do mules, hence the name, "Mule Deer." This stocky
deer has sturdy legs and is 4 to 6-1/2 feet in length
and 3 to 3-1/2 feet high at the shoulder. Most Mule
deer are brown or gray in color with a small white rump
patch and a small, black-tipped tail. Mule deer their
fawns have white spots at birth. Buck deer have antlers
that start growth in spring and are shed around December,
these antlers are high and branch forward and reach
a spread up to 4 feet in width bucks are larger than
does. The life span of a mule deer in the wild is 10
years, but mule deer have lived for up to 25 years in
captivity.
Mule deer can thrive nearly anyplace; their habitats include
woodland chaparral, Sonoran desert, semi-desert, shrub
woodland, Great Plains grasslands, shrub land forest,
sagebrush steppe, and boreal forest. Mule deer are remarkably
adaptable, of at least sixty types of habitat west of
the 100th meridian in the United States, all but two
or three are or once were home to mule Deer.
Mountain mule deer seasonally migrate from
the higher elevations of the sub-alpine forests they inhabit
during
summer to lower elevations of the mountain valleys and
desert lowlands. Deer prefer rocky windswept buttes
where it is easier for them to find food during the
winter and that provide escape from predators as needed. ---------------------->
More.......
A large Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep poses
just north of Mammoth Hot Springs
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep make their homes in the highest
parts of the mountains, where people find it difficult
to go. The Grace and beauty of the Bighorn Sheep is
a treasure to see if you are lucky enough to come across
any. Their agility and grace in their steep and rocky
home is a marvel to watch. Bighorns are considered to
the most regal of all big game animals.
Native Americans and early settlers prized bighorn meat
as the most enjoyable of All-American big-game menu
choices. The Native Americans also used the horns to
fashion ceremonial spoons and handles for their utensils.
Horns have also been popular for many centuries as trophies
for proud hunters.
The natural range of The Rocky Mountain
Bighorn is from southern Canada to Colorado. During the
summer they
inhabit high elevation alpine meadows, grassy mountain
slopes and foothill country, all near rugged, rocky
cliffs and bluffs, allowing for quick escape from mountain
lion, wolves or bears. In winter, Bighorn prefer south
facing slopes from 3,000 to 6,000 foot elevation where
annual snowfall is less and the sun and wind help clear
off the slopes, because they cannot paw through deep
snow to feed.-----------------> More........
A large bull moose grazes on an island in the middle
of the South Fork of the Snake River.
The Shiras moose also
known as Wyoming moose, is the smallest of North
America’s moose however it
is still quite large. The Shiras moose are found in
Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, British Columbia, and in isolated
areas of Utah, Colorado, and Washington.
The Shiras Bull Moose has smaller antlers
than the Canada moose. Its body color is a rusty-brown
to black with pale-brownish saddle and its legs are
gray to white. The Shiras cow moose are slightly smaller
than the male and does not have antlers. The bulls can
grow to seven feet tall at the shoulder and can reach10
feet in length. Mature Shira's moose weigh 600 to 1400
pounds. The cow moose weigh between 500 and 1200 pounds.
Bull Moose have antlers that can span five feet and
weigh up to 50 pounds. It has smaller antlers than the
Canada moose and the antlers are shed between November
and January.
Breeding occurs from mid-September through
mid-October. Cow moose attract males with both calls
and the scent of estrous. Bulls as do all ungulates
engage in fights with other bulls to win the right to
breed the cow moose. Bull moose behavior during mating
season includes scraping their antlers on trees, creating
wallows to roll in, not eating causing large weight
loss and they become more aggressive than usual and
may charge at people and cars.
Four Grizzlies, a sow (#399) and
her three cubs in Grand Teton National Park
The grizzly bear population within the Yellowstone
ecosystem is estimated to be approximately 280-610 (Eberhardt
and Knight 1996) bears. The park does not have a current
estimate of the black bear population; black bears are considered
to be common in the park.
During the last 23 years (1980-2002), bears have
injured 32 people within YNP. Grizzly bears and black bears
were involved in 25 (78%) and 4 (13%) of the injuries, respectively.
The species of bear could not be determined for 3 (9%) of
the injuries. Three injuries occurred within a developed
area, 2 occurred during a bear management handling accident,
and 27 occurred in backcountry areas. Of the people injured
while hiking, 57% were hiking off-trail. All (100%) backcountry
hiking injuries involved people hiking in groups of less
than 3 people. Bear Management Area restrictions reduce the
chance of bear/human encounters and the risk of bear-caused
human injury in areas with known seasonal concentrations
of grizzly bears.-------------------------------> More
Perhaps more than any other member of the animal
kingdom, wolves have historically played the villain's role. Misperceptions
about wolves have abounded for centuries, historically, cultures
worldwide, believed that wolves were so aggressive that they posed
a risk to humans but, ironically, wolves are wary of humans because
man has been killing wolves for millennia. Folklore is littered
with proverbs and metaphors about this fearsome carnivore, from
Peter and the Wolf in Russia to the wolf’s mysticism in Native American
culture; wolves have long been a powerful symbol. Even today, wolves
engender excitement merely at the possibility of an appearance on
the wilderness stage.
The wolves of the Greater Yellowstone
Region are members of the Canidae family, the Gray wolf (canis lupus),
can grow to 4.5 to 6.5 feet in length. Adult males average about
100 pounds, but can weigh as much as 130 pounds. Females weigh slightly
less. Gray wolves live up to 13 years old and can range in color
from black, gray, or nearly white. A wolf pack is an extended family
unit that includes a dominant male and female, called the alpha
pair. In each pack, the alphas are usually the only ones to breed.
Most packs produce only one litter of four to six pups per year.
Pack sizes vary considerably, depending on the size of the wolf
population in a particular area, whether they are feeding pups and
the quantity of prey available. In the northern Rocky Mountains,
packs average ten wolves, but the Druid pack in Yellowstone once
had 37 members. The Druid pack later split forming several
smaller packs. --------------------------> more
The black bear (Ursus Americanus)
ranges across forested Canada from Newfoundland to British
Columbia as well
as much of the United States.
A solitary animal most of the year, they pair up briefly during
the mating season. Cubs remain with their mother for about
a year, who protects which prevents them from being killed
by the adult males.
Black bears swim well and
often climb trees to feed on buds and fruit. They have
a keen sense of
smell, acute hearing,
but poor eyesight. They can be seen at any hour of the
day, but are most active at night. When very young, the
cubs cry
when afraid and hum when contented.
Black bears
are omnivorous; their diet consists of about 75 percent
vegetable matter,
15 percent carrion,
and 10 percent
insects and small mammals. Their love for honey
is well known, and sweet, ripe corn in autumn also attracts
them.
They have few enemies,
but the one they fear the most is the Grizzly. Whenever
their territories overlap,
the latter is
given a wide berth.---------------------------> More
American Bison standing
on bluff west of Grand Teton Park's Kelly road. The Grand Teton
Mountain Range is in the backgrouns
The
Greater Yellowstone ecosystem is the only place in the lower
48 states where an endemic population of wild bison has survived
since prehistoric times. Perhaps no other animal symbolizes the
American West like the American bison. In prehistoric times millions
of these quintessential creatures of the plains roamed the North
America from northern Canada, south into Mexico and from Atlantic
to the pacific. No one knows how many bison were in America before
Columbus arrived but the guesstimate is about sixty million.
They were the largest community of wild animals that the world
has ever known. For a good part of the 1800s bison were considered
to be in limitless supply.
After the Civil War the push to settle the west was on, new army posts were established, coinciding with the westward push of the railroads. The army and railroads contracted with local men to supply buffalo meat to feed the troops and construction laborers.
Bison were hunted nearly to extinction in the late 1800’s--------------------------------------------> More
Mountain Goat kids browse
and play on the snowy cliffs just north of Alpine Wyoming
The Mountain Goats of the Greater Yellowstone
eco-system make a home on the vertical planes of the Rocky Mountains
where they cling and move around on the impossibly steep slopes
of this unforgiving and barren terrain, Mountain Goats can survive
on scant food in incredibly hostile environs. Mountain goats fit
perfectly into the category of "charismatic mega-fauna." Their beauty,
grace, and athleticism, is a treat to watch and their cute faces
are always a thrill to see. The kids are precocious, able to move
on steep slopes within hours of birth, an awe-inspiring site in
itself.
Although the Yellowstone Ecosystem has an abundance
of Mountain Goat habitat, Goats are not endemic to the region. Between
the 1940s and the 1960s, there were several hundred of the shaggy
cliff dwelling creatures transplanted from western Montana to the
Beartooth, Absaroka, Madison, Bridger, and Crazy mountains and the
Snake River Range. Hundreds of them now inhabit the high country.
Some of those animals are willing to leave their preferred high-elevation
habitat to cross rivers, and valleys too colonize new places. There
haven’t been any transplants in the Gallatin Range, for instance,
but goats thrive there today. -----------------------> more
Mountain lion returning
to kill outside of Jackson Hole Wyoming
The Mountain Lion cougar (Puma
concolor), also puma, cougar, or panther, is a member of the
Felidae family, native to the Americas. This large, solitary
cat has the greatest range of any wild land mammal in the Western
Hemisphere, extending from Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes
of South America. An adaptable species, the cougar is found in
every major North American habitat.
The Mountain lions of Yellowstone region were significantly
reduced by predator control measures during the early 1900s. It
is reported that 121 lions were removed from the park between the
years 1904 and 1925. Then, the remaining population was estimated
to be 12 individuals. Mountain lions apparently existed at very
low numbers between 1925 and 1940. They maintain a secretive profile
in the Yellowstone region. Although the cougar population numbered
in the hundreds during the early 1900s, controlled hunts between
1904 and 1925 decimated the population. Today, twenty to thirty-five
mountain lions reportedly inhabit Yellowstone Park, but sightings
are rare.
Shy and elusive, mountain lions live solitary lives
and practice mutual avoidance. Males and females interact for breeding
when females are about 2 1/2 years old. Giving birth throughout
the year, females can have litters of up to four kittens, but usually
only one or two survive. Born spotted, the kittens stay with their
mothers for about 18 months, after which time they will leave in
search of their own home range.---------------------------------------> More
The black bear (Ursus Americanus)
ranges across forested Canada from Newfoundland to British
Columbia as well
as much of the United States.
A solitary animal most of the year, they pair up briefly during
the mating season. Cubs remain with their mother for about
a year, who protects which prevents them from being killed
by the adult males. 
