2022-11-04 05:58:34
With more than 400 bird species and 100 mammal species (jackalope not included), Wyoming is a wildlife lover’s dream. See if you can spot these eight critters on your next visit. Find tips on where to glimpse these wild creatures and more at TravelWY.com/spot-wildlife. BISON Wyoming’s state animal has grazed the geothermal expanses of Yellowstone since prehistoric times. Today, sightings are a regular occurrence throughout Yellowstone National Park, Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis, Kendrick Elk and Buffalo Park in Sheridan, and Bear River State Park in Evanston. ELK With antlers that can tower up to 4 feet, elk are a majestic sight to behold. Favorite haunts include Medicine Bow National Forest outside Laramie, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and western Wyoming’s Star Valley. Many elk journey to the National Elk Refuge in Jackson each winter. GRIZZLY BEAR Wyoming’s famed grizzly bears are so common you might see them roaming above treeline, along rushing rivers and across shortgrass prairies. Watch for them on Grand Teton and Yellowstone park land, though be sure to give them ample space. See p. 50 for wildlife-safety tips. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: NPS/JACOB W. FRANK, FLICKR/USFWS MOUNTAIN-PRAIRIE, NPS/NEAL HERBERT, FLICKR/CHARLES (CHUCK) PETERSON, ADOBE STOCK/ RONNIE HOWARD, INSTAGRAM/ JAKEYSFORKWYOMING, INSTAGRAM/ NICK.SULZER, FLICKR/PATRICKROHE. WESTERN MEADOWLARK Wyoming’s yellow-breasted state bird has a song so distinctive it’s likened to a flute. Listen for its chipper calls in Wyoming’s open grassland as a signal of spring’s arrival. Its nests are snuggled amid vegetation, and it feeds on bugs and seeds, so look down rather than up when scanning for them. MOOSE These mighty ungulates are a common sight in the town of Jackson and in Grand Teton National Park (where there’s even a Moose District), thanks to the area’s plentiful willows. As the snow melts in May, moose follow favorite migratory waterways — including Mink Creek — to summer in Yellowstone. PRONGHORN Did you know the fastest land mammal in North America lives right here in Wyoming? In fact, the state is home to the largest migratory pronghorn herd in the lower 48. Hundreds of pronghorn travel along a spring migratory route spanning Wyoming’s Red Desert to Grand Teton National Park. BIGHORN SHEEP So abundant are bighorn sheep that there’s a place named after them: Bighorn National Forest near Sheridan. Or head to National Bighorn Sheep Center near Dubois for interactive exhibits and a great wild-sheep herd. Look closely: Despite their huge, 30-pound horns, the sheep can easily blend into the background. WILD HORSE Wild horse herds, descendants of Spanish equines, roam Wyoming’s open landscape, primarily in the state’s southwest corner. See this majestic symbol of the West in the Pryor Mountains, near Lovell, around Rock Springs, and in Lander’s Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary.
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