A Learning Link to Yellowstone National Park

In fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs have confronted the Big Bad Wolf for generations. Always up to no good, the wolf can be found huffing, puffing, and blowing down houses or dressing up like Grandma to trick a young girl. As with many fairy tales, stories like these are good ways to teach lessons about honesty and hard work. Unfortunately, many people--even today--believe wolves are like the Big Bad Wolf. But in real life, wolves stay away from people.

Yellowstone National Park is a great place to see wolves in the wild. Although gray wolves disappeared from the park in the late 1920s, scientists recently developed a plan to bring wolves back. The first 14 gray wolves were released into Yellowstone in 1995, and now almost 200 wolves make their home in and around the Yellowstone area. In fact, the wolves are now one of the top animals that visitors come to see. And winter is a wonderful time to see them.

But wolves aren't the only animals you may see on a winter trip to Yellowstone National Park. Bison, elk, pronghorn antelope, moose, mountain lions and bald eagles are among the nearly 400 animal species that live in the park.

Did You Know?

* In 1872, Yellowstone became the world's first national park.

* Yellowstone is also home to Old Faithful, the most famous of the park's more than 300 geysers.

* Yellowstone is located over three states. Wyoming is home to 96% of the park, Montana, 3%, and Idaho, 1%.

Learn More!

* Read "Once a Wolf: How Wildlife Biologists Brought Back the Gray Wolf," by Stephen R. Swinburne.

* Visit the park at www.nps.gov/yell.

* Ask your parents to take you to Yellowstone National Park.

This learning link was provided by the National Parks Conservation Assn., an organization dedicated to protecting, preserving, and enhancing the National Park System, www.eparks.org.