Yellowstone Wildlife
Intro to Yellowstone
What is the Wildlife Acre program?
  Yellowstone

Explore Yellowstone title

The greater Yellowstone ecosystem provides unique homes for wildlife species ranging from bighorn sheep to bald eagles.


Graphic of paw printWildlife

Gray Wolf
Mountain Lion
Black Bear
Grizzly Bear
Wolverine
Lynx
Elk
Buffalo

Pronghorn
Mule Deer
White-tailed Deer
Bighorn Sheep
Mountain Goat
Bald Eagle
Whooping Crane
Graphic of leafEcosystems
Alpine Tundra
Coniferous Forest
Mountain Meadows
Sage-steppe Grasslands
Riparian Areas
Photo of Mountain Goat

The mountain goat is not a true goat, but belongs to a group known as goat-antelopes. The horns of true goats sweep up and back, and are tightly spiraled like a corkscrew, the mountain goat’s horns curve back only slightly. Its "beard" is not the true chin beard of male goats, but an extension of a throat mane. Its hooves are well adapted for rocky peaks, with a sharp outer rim that grips and a rubbery sole that provides traction on steep or smooth surfaces. Traversing peaks and narrow ledges at a stately walk or trot, it may seem to move across the face of an almost sheer cliff.

Related Resources

Seeking Safe Passage - Scientists are increasingly discovering the benefits of protecting wildlife corridors, like those in the Yellowstone ecosystem, that connect isolated wildlife habitats.

A Top Dog Takes Over - Exterminated from Yellowstone National Park eight decades ago, gray wolves are back — and boosting the park's biodiversity.

Rebirth of Yellowstone's Wolves - The saga of the first wolf pups born in the region in seven decades

Clash of the Carnivores - What happens when the hunters become the hunted at Yellowstone?

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