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Yellowstone Wildlife
Wildlife Species
Explore with Yellowstone Safari Company
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is one of the largest and most pristine temperate ecosystems left on Earth, spanning roughly 22 million acres, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Globally recognized as a leader in conservation, this remarkable region has been safeguarded for over 150 years beginning with Yellowstone’s establishment as the world’s first national park in 1872, and later expanding with the completed creation of Grand Teton National Park in 1950.
Today, visitors explore a vast, connected wilderness of rugged mountains, sweeping valleys, clear rivers, and open meadows—an environment that still supports the same incredible variety of wildlife that once roamed the American West centuries ago.
If you’re curious about the animals that inhabit the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, it is a long list! The area’s diverse habitats sustain an extraordinary array of species. Across the sagebrush plains, travelers may encounter bison, pronghorn, grizzly bears, coyotes, hawks, and sandhill cranes. In forested landscapes, you might glimpse elk, mule deer, black bears, pine martens, and red foxes, while wetlands, rivers, and lakes draw beavers, otters, swans, pelicans, bald eagles, and moose. Even the rocky cliffs and alpine slopes harbor hardy specialists such as bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and pika, each perfectly adapted to their unique habitats.
Among Yellowstone’s most famous residents are its large carnivores. The gray wolf, once eradicated from the region, was successfully reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995, marking one of the greatest wildlife restoration achievements in North America. Today, more than 100 wolves roam the park in about a dozen packs, and Yellowstone remains one of the premier places in the world to observe them in the wild alongside grizzly bears, black bears, and mountain lions that thrive within this protected ecosystem.
One of the most memorable wildlife events each year is the elk rut in early fall. From September through October, the haunting bugle of bull elk echoes across valleys and meadows as they compete for dominance and mates, a timeless display of nature’s drama. For visitors planning the best time to see wildlife in Yellowstone and Grand Teton, autumn stands out: it’s a season rich with color, movement and sound, offering a chance to witness the elk rut in the rugged, wild terrain, while spotting bison, moose, and migrating birds along the way.
