In this NPS photo below of a Yellowstone wildlife montage by Robert ‘Bob’ Hynes, you can compare the difference in size / heights of various animals / birds we may see on the Outdoor Club trips to Grand Teton National Park.
Animals, (left to right): a Coyote, a Mule Deer, a Bighorn sheep, a Bull elk, a Wolf, a Grizzly bear and cub, a Bull Moose, a Uinta Ground Squirrel, a Black bear, a Bison and calf, a Marmot, a Pika, and a Pronghorn (antelope)
At the top of the illustration are, in flight, an Osprey on the far left, then past the moose antlers, (left to right) an American White Pelican, a Lesser Scaup, two Trumpeter Swans, and above them, a Green-winged Teal. (Grand Teton birds has close-up photos of some of them.)
And in a drawing (not to quite the same scale) of (left to right) a deer, elk, moose and a man you can make a comparison of the difference in size / height of various mammals versus a human.
and in a third, not to quite the same scale, a comparison of the sizes of a wildlife of Mount Rainier National Park, (and of a lot of the Pacific Northwest) at the top, a Clark’s Nutcracker in flight, below it, an Elk, Mountain Goat, Black Bear, Hoary Marmot (left) and Chipmunk (right).
and a fourth drawing, also not to the same scale, shows, left to right, comparison of heights and sizes / proportions of Big Horn Sheep, Elk, Bear and Moose as seen from the side:
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More photos and descriptions of most of the animals above are below at this webpage.
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The
elk (5 foot tall) compares in size to a horse.
Yellowstone park notes:
Elk “Antlers are usually symmetrical and occur on males and, only rarely, females.
•The average, healthy, mature bull has six tines on each antler, and is known in some parts of the US as a “six point” or “six by six.”
•One-year-old bulls grow 10–20-inch spikes, sometimes forked.
•Two-year-old bulls usually have slender antlers with four to five points.
•Three-year-old bulls have thicker antlers.
•Four-year-old and older bulls typically have six points; antlers are thicker and longer each year.
•Eleven- or 12-year-old bulls often grow the heaviest antlers; after that age, the size of antlers generally diminishes.”
“The antlers of a typical, healthy bull are 55–60 inches long, just under six feet wide, and weigh about 30 pounds per pair.”
(The wingspan of an eagle is also about six feet.)
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/elk.htm
Teton Science school explains why elk shed their antlers every year:
https://www.tetonscience.org/why-do-bull-elk-shed-their-antlers-each-year/
A 23 minute old elk:
Elk are not horse-sized deer, or grown up deer, they are a different animal, but both deer and elk (and moose) are in the deer family (Cervidae).
Hear elk bugling.
In A Field Guide to Mammal Tracks, Olaus Murie described an elk bugle, or as he called it “Wapiti music: … It rises with a glide to a high-pitched silvery note, then glides down again, to end in some guttural grunts.”
In his memoir Teewinot: Climbing and Contemplating the Teton Range, Jack Turner, Exum guide and corporate president writes: “The sound the bull elk makes during the rut is, everyone agrees, difficult to describe. The word bugling leaves too much to the imagination, but attempts to be more specific usually end up being humorous. The early English hunters were particularly eloquent and fanciful. Sir Price said: ‘It is a decided whistle, not unlike a soft note on a clarinet, ending with a very mild sort of grunt at the finish–a most difficult sound to describe, but one which I am happy to say we became very familiar with before the hunt was over. It is the most gentle musical sound that emanates from any animal I ever met with.’
“Not to be outdone, Baillie Grohman said: ‘It is very hard to imitate, or describe. It is neither a whistle or a bellow. Not unlike some tones produced by an Aeolian harp, it might also be compared to the higher notes produced by the flageolet, and of course it is entirely different from the red deer’s call.’
“Olaus Murie’s description in The Elk of North America is, in the best tradition of American pragmatism, more prosaic, but it rings true: ‘The call begins on a low note, glides upward until it reaches high, clear, buglelike notes, which are prolonged, then drops quickly to a grunt, followed by a series of grunts. The call may be very roughly represented thus: A-a-a-a-ai-e-eeeeeeeee-eough! e-uh! e uh!’”
Please note it is against park regulations to imitate an elk bugle or wolf/coyote howl
or use any artificial or natural audio attractants (including rattling antlers)
to attract or disturb wildlife.
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Moose are the largest in the Cervidae – Deer Family, 6.5 to 7.5 feet tall, (one source says 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 feet at the shoulder) with antlers that spread 4 to 5 feet (record 6’9″) and can weigh up to 1,400 pounds (usually 1,000 male, 900 female (cow). Lives up to 20 years.
NPS photo of moose in comparison to a SUV or pickup truck with a camper shell:
moose calves
Moose calves live with their mother until the cow begins estrus (around 18 months after birth of the calf).
moose pair
“Moose . . . have thick fur coats with long hollow hairs to insulate them down to temperatures of -60F. This also makes moose fur tremendously buoyant. All the air molecules trapped in moose fur do what air wants to do in water – rise to the surface. So the coat of a moose acts as a lifejacket, a constant force that tugs the moose to the surface.”
. . . moose are incredible swimmers, at least as hoofed animals go. They are capable of hitting speeds of at least six miles per hour. That sounds like no more than a jogging speed for humans, but most humans can only swim two miles per hour. High School swimmers hit three to four miles per hour. Olympic swimmers win medals above five miles per hour.” Is from https://www.tetonscience.org/can-moose-really-dive/
And here, a moose swimming:
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Below mountain goat nanny and kid:
Mountain goats (5 foot long, 3 feet tall), black horns are much smaller than bighorn sheep (6 feet tall / 3 1/2 feet to shoulder, muscular male bighorns can weigh over 300 pounds. Females are roughly half this size.):
Pronghorn Male (buck) weighs 100–125 pounds; female (doe) weighs 90–110 pounds, adult length is 45–55 inches and height is 35–40 inches at shoulder. (can run 30 mph for 15 miles with spurts up to 70 mph, another surce says can run for sustained sprints of 45–50 mph) from the Smithsonian “communicate with each other visually by raising the mane on the back of the neck into a stiff brush and erecting the white hairs on their rump”)
Newborn pronghorn fawns can walk within 30 minutes of birth and are capable of outrunning a human in a couple of days.
The park service notes that “A pronghorn buck (male) is easily distinguished from a doe (female) by his black cheek patch.”
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Both male and female bison 4-5 feet tall at their shoulder, 10-12 feet long, have a small beard, but only the male has a bushy forehead. Males (2,000 lbs/900 kg) are larger than females (1,100 lbs/500 kg).
Yellowstone park says:
Q: How do you tell male from female bison?
A: A bull’s head is wider and shaped more like a triangle than the female bison; its ‘forehead’ fur is much thicker, as is the fur on its forelegs; and its beard is thicker. A cow’s horns are slightly more curved and slender than a bull’s. In addition, a cow’s shoulders are narrower than its hips while a male’s shoulders are broader than its hips.
In the NPS photo below, the female bison is on the left, the male on the right.
Bison calves are born with a reddish coat that darkens after the first months (they are nicknamed red dogs):
Hear a bison bellow.
In this photo of a bison about to cross a road, note the size of the bison in comparison to the people and their cars. If the bison decided to change his direction of travel, or move quickly, people could have been injured.
from a Yellowstone National Park report:
“Despite their size and seemingly slow moving habits, bison are surprisingly agile and can be quick to react.”
This photographer might have thought he was far enough away because he had a wall between him and the bison, but bison (1,000 to 2,000 pounds) are capable of hopping quickly over walls:
Before bison charges has more, including what people were doing before a bison charged them, and injuries they received.
Bison weight a little less than a rhinoceros, but hippos can weight twice as much as bison.
Yellowstone National park answered the question, are they bison or buffalo?
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A yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris), 16 inches long plus a 6 1/2 inch tail (can be two feet in length and weigh up to 11 pounds)
and a pika (Ochotona princeps) 7–8.4 inches long, 5.3–6.2 ounces (about the size of a guinea pig)
on a trail, for a size comparison:
How to draw a pika:
https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/upload/howtodrawaPIKA.pdf
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From a distance it can be hard to tell which small animal you see swimming. But each swims differently.
Muskrat swimming:
Beaver swimming:
River otters undulate through the water. One source says when a beaver swims, only his head shows above the water; muskrats show both their head and part of their back. Another source says that muskrats usually swim with their thin tails “snaking in the water behind them or arched out of the water; you never see a beaver’s tail as it swims.”
Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) have been observed swimming underwater for up to 17 minutes, surfacing for three seconds, and then going back underwater for another 10 minutes. Adult muskrats are the size of a football, (their body 16-24 inches long, long narrow tail 7-11 inches),
Otters (Lontra canadensis), are 3 to 4 feet long,
Otters can remain submerged for several minutes, dive to 55 feet and swim up to a quarter-mile underwater.
Otter “Ears and nostrils close when underwater; whiskers aid in locating prey.”
beavers (Castor canadensis) are four times as big as a muskrat. (Beavers reach lengths of three to four feet and weights of up to 40 pounds and can live up to 24 years in the wild.).
Beavers use their tails as rudders as they swim, to slap the water when they want to warn other beavers they see something dangerous (like you, perhaps) and to help them stand up to reach for and chew branches.
Below is a beaver (see the lodge and one of the dams in the background)
Minks (Mustela vison, rarely seen) are half the size of an otter.
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A golden-mantled ground squirrel (Spermophilus lateralis) 6-9 inches, has stripes that stop before it’s neck, and has a shorter tail than a chipmunk ( Yellow-pine Chipmunk Neotamias amoenus, Least Chipmunk Neotamias minimus and rare Uinta Chipmunk Neotamias umbrinus) 5 inches to 4 1/2 inches, is a little smaller and has stripes across it’s back and up it’s head.
Larger squirrels include (likely seen in trees) 11–15 inches long Red Squirrel (Tamasciurus hudsonicus) also known as Chickaree
Unita Ground squirrels, (Spermophilus armatus, “whistle pig”), 11–12 inches long, live in burrows they dig. They go into hibernation as early as mid-July and stay in hibernation as long as through March.
Hear a Uinta Ground Squirrel.
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Sightings of bobcat (Felis rufus), lynx (Felis lynx) or mountain lion (Felis concolor, cougar, puma) , are not common, but here are their faces for comparison:
and here is a bobcat on the grounds of a Yosemite National Park hotel:
A Yellowstone study found that cougars (mountain lions) mostly eat elk, followed by mule deer, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn. They may live up to 18-20 years.
Learn about research sponsored by the Yosemite Conservancy and “follow a mountain lion’s journey on a summer morning in Yosemite.” You can see that video cameras detected mountain lions all over Yosemite Valley.
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3e36ebd9b63d4489b2254c94617887de
The lab results of scat samples “for 2019 revealed that 35 individual mountain lions were detected in Yosemite: 14 females, 10 males, and 11 cougar samples without individual or sex identified.”
Also a predator, also not commonly seen, the Pine Marten, (Martes americana) NPS notes: 18–26 inches long, is active throughout the year; hunts mostly on the ground. Rests or dens in hollow trees or stumps, in ground burrows or rock piles, in excavations under tree roots.
NPS notes: Ringtailed cats “are known to invade buildings in search of food or to hunt rodents, but they are strictly nocturnal and make every effort to avoid detection. Ringtails weigh only about two pounds and can be up to 32 inches long, adding another 12 or more inches for their fluffy, ringed tail.
Combining their small size and incredible agility, there are few spaces inaccessible to a determined ringtail. Using their semi-retractable claws they can climb most walls and perform cartwheels and other acrobatics to negotiate tight spaces.”
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Below a NPS drawing showing the size comparison of a wolf, coyote and a fox.
And another National Park Service drawing comparing the size and coloration of a fox (front), coyote (center), and wolf (back), by Michael Warner from a Yellowstone Park webpage
Coyotes have a narrow, triangular shaped head. A wolf has a more square, blocky head.
Wolves can be coal black, creamy white and everything (gray, tan) in between. Coyotes are gray, tawny, buffy or reddish gray, with some orange on it’s tail and ears.
The coyote often holds his tail between his legs when running. His nose is more pointed than a wolf.
A red fox barks, but rarely howls/sings. Wolves and coyotes both sing long howls, but the wolf does not add yips/yaps. Yellowstone park notes that that wolves howl for “intrapack communication, advertising territory, coordinating social activities.” Denali park notes that “Wolves are noted for their distinctive howl, which they use as a form of communication. Biologists do not know all of the reasons why wolves howl, but they may do so before and after a hunt, to sound an alarm, and to locate other members of the pack when separated. Wolves howl more frequently in the evening and early morning, especially during winter breeding and pup rearing. Howling is also one way that packs warn other wolves to stay out of their territory.”
To print a wolf / coyote comparison go to:
http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/guideres.htm
and click on wolf versus coyote comparison
Coyote front prints are usually 2 3/4 inches in length or less, some large dog breeds can have prints as big as a wolf, wolves are usually 3 1/2 inches in length not including the claws.
The International Wolf Center tells us that “The biting capacity of a wolf is 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of pressure per square inch… In comparison, a German Shepard has a biting pressure of 750 pounds per square inch. A human has a much lower biting pressure of 300 pounds per square inch.”
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The coyote (Canis latrans), (25 inches tall, large ones up to 55 pounds) compares in size to a large family dog. One way to tell if what you see from a distance is a dog or a coyote is that when a coyote runs, it generally holds its tail down at an angle, and a dog runs with its tail up. We’ve read that Rocky Mountain coyotes are bigger than the ones we frequently see in Yosemite on our winter trips.
two photos of one coyote in Yellowstone:
And a coyote walking next to a swimming pool fence in Yosemite National Park:
Hear a coyote howl.
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A red fox (Vulpes vulpes), barks but rarely howls or sings.It has red fur with white-tipped tail, dark legs; long, slender snout. It has a bushier tail than a coyote. Some are black or silver.
Adult males weigh 11–12 pounds; females weigh average 10 pounds.
Average 43 inches long.
“Sierra Nevada red fox is uniquely different from the familiar low-elevation fox:” https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/nature/redfox-biology.htm
Hear a red fox.
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A Gray Wolf (Canis lupus), up to 35″ tall, is much bigger than a coyote or family dog, but it can be hard to tell at a distance, which is where you will most likely see one if at all. Wolves can weight 70-120 pounds, coyotes only 25-40.
Wolves run on the average 5 mph, or up to 35 mph.
First photo below of mollie’s wolfpack in Yellowstone: (in social situations like the first photo, the height the tail is carried generally relates to the social status of that wolf).
Many years of maps / charts of wolf pack territories in Grand Teton National park and Yellowstone National park, as well as details about wolves, (inlcluding why wolves howl and how far away you can hear them) are at:
Wolf pack territories in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and wolf watching tips
Hear wolf howling and choruses.
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The main differences between a grizzly Ursos arctos and a black bear Ursus americanus are:
Two photos below black bears and six of grizzlies are courtesy of NPS:
NPS webpages have noted:
grizzlies have a dished, or concave face; black bears have a straight facial profile
grizzlies have a large hump of muscle above the shoulders (used for digging and running) This hump is higher / taller than their rump.
grizzly claws (long, for digging) are visible from a distance, black bears claws (short, curved for climbing) are not
grizzlies are bigger (males 300-700 pounds, black bears 210-315 pounds) but an adult male black bear can be bigger than a female griz
coloration in both is so variable, that it isn’t a good way to tell them apart. Black bears are not just black in color, they can be light, medium or dark brown, cinnamon/reddish or blond. Grizzlies can be any of the above, sometimes with silver-tipped guard hairs that give them their grizzled gray / silver appearance.
If you have reason to report a bear sighting, try to notice the color as described above, including any colors of patches on the chest or of girth bands. Be ready to describe the size. A two year old is about 1/2 to 3/4 the size of a female, a yearling about 1/4 to 1/2 the size of a female and the cub of the year is about 1/4 the size of a female. Was there an ear tag, radio collar or paint to identify the bear?
black bears are more likely to stalk a human than grizzlies, although this is quite rare
both can climb trees
grizzly bears can run 40 miles per hour, black bears more likely run 30 miles per hour
In the Yosemite Daily Report it said: Bears can run as fast as 35 mph.
The average human athlete runs at around 15 mph,
and the fastest known human (Olympic gold medalist, Usain Bolt) runs at 27 mph.
Bears win.
both hibernate, but sometimes awake during winter and leave their dens (occasionally some black bears in Yosemite, for example, never do hibernate)
both have occasionally become too used to humans and/or human food and have had to be destroyed.
What do Grizzly bears sound like? Griz vocalizations description from Yellowstone Park “Grizzly bears sometimes vocalize when agitated or nervous.. . sounds of huffing, jaw-popping, and low growls are warnings that you’re too close.”
https://home.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/grizzlysounds.htm
To watch a Grand Teton National park video comparing black bears and griz, go to
https://www.nps.gov/grte/learn/photosmultimedia/wildvids.htm
and click on Which Bear Did I See?
The NPS photo of a bear on it’s back shows why bear rear paw prints really do look a lot like footprints of a human:
And here, a human foot print and bear paw prints in soft mud for a size comparison:
Check out a close encounter with a bear in Yellowstone park, by people who admitted they left their bear spray in the car and will never do so again:
This NPS image of a man spraying bear spray shows the comparison in size of a man and a very large bear:
See links to bear spray videos as well as maps of where grizleys live in the western United States at:
your safety in grizzly bear country
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Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are rarely seen in Grand Teton National park.
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The difference between a tundra swan and a trumpeter swan (8′ wingspan) is that the tundra swan has a yellow spot near the eye and the trumpeter swan has a thin pink stripe at the base of their upper mandible.
The other huge white birds are pelicans with a huge yellow beak and throat pouch.
and here a photo showing the size difference between a pelican and a seagull:
NPS photos of adult and juvenile Bald Eagles:
The juvenile Bald Eagle above will not get white head feathers until it is about 4 years old.
Osprey also hunt along the water, often in the vicnity of Bald Eagles:
and see: Grand Teton National Park birds which includes Bald Eagle, Red-winged Blackbird, Canada Geese, Clark’s Nutcracker, Golden Eagle, Great Blue Heron, Great Gray Owl, Harlequin duck, Loon, Magpie, Merganser, Northern Flicker, Osprey, Ouzel, Pelican, Peregrine Falcon, Ptarmigan, Raven, Sandhill Cranes, Steller’s Jays, Trumpeter Swan, Western Meadowlark, Western Tanager
with links to calls from most of them to listen to.
A note about feathers, courtesy of David Allen Sibley in Sibley’s Birding Basics. Numbers of feathers vary from 940 on a hummingird to 1,500-2,600 on a sparrow to 25,000 on a tundra swan. Feathers “commonly account for 15 % of the bird’s total body weight – about twice as much as it’s skeleton.”
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Grand Teton National Park rules say do not approach wildlife, stay 100 yards from bears or wolves and 25 yards from other wildlife including nesting birds. If you have an accidental, surprise or inadvertent closer encounter with wildlife you must remove yourself to those distances.
For your safety while wildlife viewing, stay 25 yards away, at least, for most wildlife, and 100 yards for bears, moose, elk, bison and wolves, whether on foot or in your car.
Keep the animal’s line of travel or escape route clear and move away if wildlife approaches you.
How far away is 100 yards? Picture the length of a football field without the end zones.
25 yards? picture four car lengths or six kayak lengths, or the width of an Olympic-sized pool like ours at the college.
Safe Distances from Wildlife includes reasons to stay away from even friendly seeming animals in parks, and charts and photos to better be able to determine and visualize how far away from wildlife you need to stay to be safe (and obey laws that do have penalties).
Grand Canyon National Park rangers say: “Follow the rule of thumb: if you can cover the entire wild animal with your thumb you’re at a safe distance. This distance is usually 25 yards from most wildlife and 100 yards from large wildlife . . . If you are close enough to take a selfie with an animal, you are too close. ”
Selfies can be great, OR dangerous. The use of cell phones for photography (with or without a selfie stick) has made preventable injury or even death by selfie common. They were only taking a selfie.
Parks Canada warns, along with keeping a proper distance from animals :
“If you spot the following defensive warning signals, pull back even more or leave the area:
Bears make a ‘woofing’ noise, growl and snap their jaws;
Bull elk and moose put their heads down and paw at the ground;
Cow elk flatten their ears, stare directly at you and raise their rump hair.
If you cause an animal to move, you are too close.”
This NPS photo came with this warning:
“when a moose is stressed it will lay its ears back along its head and its hackles will rise.”
• Denali National park warns: “Moose are not predatory, and they will not try to eat you.
Instead, they try to trample a perceived threat.”
You will really want your own binoculars.
and a telephoto lens for your camera.
Using a drone for your photography is illegal in national parks. NPS notes: “Drones can be extremely noisy, and can impact the natural soundscape. Drones can also impact the wilderness experience for other visitors creating an environment that is not conducive to wilderness travel. The use of drones also interferes with emergency rescue operations and can cause confusion and distraction for rescue personnel and other parties involved in the rescue operation. Additionally, drones can have negative impacts on wildlife nearby the area of use, especially sensitive nesting peregrine falcons on cliff walls.”
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See also: animal sign comparisons
(how to use tracks and scat to distinguish species)
Please do not handle scat. Wolf scat, for example, can transmit tapeworm eggs to humans.
Watch a Grand Teton National park video identifying and comparing animal tracks
https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=2896C9FD-155D-451F-67912A1CB1362CCF
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your safety in grizzly bear territory tells you what to do if you see a bear in the distance or a bear charges you and has info about Bear Pepper Sprays and what might happen before a bison charges.
NPS chart of where grizzly bears live in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (the blue outline) in 2008:
Recommended reading
Yellowstone Grizzly Bears: Ecology and Conservation of an Icon of Wildness
” . . . Bears can see in color, can hear in the ultrasonic range, and possess an incredible sense of smell.. . Heaviest Known Body Mass in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Adult male 715 pounds (324 kilograms); Adult female 436 pounds (198 kilograms)
Speed: 35 to 40 miles per hour (56 to 64 kilometers per hour)
Strength: 2.5 to 5 times greater than humans
. . . 1944: Olaus Murie . . . experimented with electric cattle prods to teach bears to avoid campgrounds, but concluded “the bear learns to recognize the particular person or car that administers the shock or other punishment, and simply avoids that person or car in the future, but does not fear other persons or cars.”
$39.95 or a free download
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/upload/Yellowstone_Grizzlies_Web.pdf
Grand Tetons biking has details about rare fatal (often preventable) encounters between bike riders and grizzlys.
This NPS historic photo collection shows people much too close to an elk:
For more actual incidents of injuries from animals, usually caused by approaching them too closely, go to: fatal, near fatal or close call incidents/accidents in camping, backpacking, climbing and mountaineering
Look for the BEARS, MOUNTAIN LION, BISON, ELK and MOOSE sections.
For details about our next club trip to Grand Teton National Park, go to: Grand Tetons.
Grand Tetons trip pages index has brief descriptions of most of the pages about this trip.
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Hiking Advice has hot weather hiking advice, hiking logistics and the answer to the question:
When is the best time of day to cross a mountain stream?
People often get too close to animals when they are trying to take a selfie.
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