Yellowstone Wildlife
Yellowstone National Park has most definitely a higher concentration than all of the lower forty eight states of wildlife. However, winter wildlife reduces the numbers as many species are sleeping or hibernating. Some of the most common are the moose, buffalo, elk and wolves. Though tourists are constantly reminded that these are wild animals and are potentially very dangerous.
Winter wildlife in Yellowstone is far less than during the warmer months. It is not difficult to spot a moose, wolf, buffalo or elk amongst the trees or in the snow covered fields. Interestingly enough, the park is home to sixty one varied mammals, though very few are up and around during the winter.
Gray wolves regularly roam in packs through Hayden Valley, also very popular with snowmobilers, cross country skiers and snowshoers. To date no attacks have ever happened without provocation and usually only to get food.
Buffalo, moose and elk are also very prevalent. There are some four hundred moose in the park, but numbers have depleted dramatically due to disappearing habitats, starvation, additional predators and lack of water. Most of the time, it is easier to spot an elk than a moose as moose prefer their solitude, though both can be very aggressive if approached.
The buffalo number some four thousand within the area, and many are constantly on the move to find what little food is available during the heavy snowfalls and from amongst the deepening snows. In fact, when the buffalo herds decide to find a spot of food along a road, the chances are the road could be blocked until every blade of grass has been consumed, which can be for hours or even days. Though the buffalo are gentle by nature, they do not take highly to human contact and have been known to attack if defending their territory or out of fear. There is no way that a human can out run a charging thirty mile an hour buffalo.
It is best when using Yellowstone during the winter to exercise the same caution as would be done during the warmer months. Though the females may not have young with them, though some do, they still will react more quickly and more violently than the males, though the male animals in any of the species can be very formidable and never underestimated either. It is therefore best to avoid approaching any of these animals and to just take a quick photo and then move on.
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