Beyond its colorful hot springs, erupting geysers, and other incredible sights, Yellowstone National Park is known for its huge variety and density of wildlife. In fact, this park is home to a higher concentration of mammals than anywhere else in the entire lower 48 states!

Nearly 70 different types of mammals live in the park. So what can you expect to see?

You Will Likely See These Animals in Yellowstone 

The * means that we saw these on our trip!

Elk*, bison*, pronghorn*, and deer*.

Other Yellowstone Animals You Might See If You’re Lucky!

Wolves*, black bears*, grizzly bears*, coyotes*, moose*, owls*, porcupine*, weasel*, bald eagles*, otters, fox, bighorn sheep.

Yellowstone Animals You’re Unlikely To See

Mountain lions, wolverines.

Tips for seeing Yellowstone Wildlife

Bring binoculars. Ours weren’t anything too fancy or expensive, but we used them on several occasions.

Head out at dawn and dusk. Set your alarm early and build an afternoon nap into your itinerary if needed! Wildlife is most active at these times, plus you’ll miss the crowds. We even spotted a few animals well past sunset as we were driving back to camp!

Be patient. Don’t expect to pull over in Lamar or Hayden Valley and immediately see something. Bring chairs and some food and hang out for a while. We did this for both sunset and sunrise, and even if you don’t see any animals, it’s still a beautiful, relaxing experience.

Pack a good camera lens. If you can get a good iPhone photo, then you’re most likely way too close. If you really care about photographing wildlife, you’ll want to either bring a DSLR or Mirrorless camera with a telephoto lens, or look into options that can attach to your iPhone. For reference, I used a 24-105 mm lens on a crop sensor camera, and I really could have used better zoom than that on most occasions. If you don’t care about perfect photos, that’s fine! Just don’t break the rules trying to get a photo or video that will most likely be blurry anyway.

Use legal pullouts and be mindful of traffic safety. It’s easy to get excited and abruptly stop the car if you spot something, but be aware of your surroundings! Only stop your car if it’s entirely off the road to prevent creating a major traffic jam or safety hazard.

Staying Safe Around Yellowstone Animals

Keep your distance. You will read and hear this over and over again in the park, and trust that it’s for good reason. We witnessed an elk ram a boardwalk fence where a tourist was gawking, and we saw an elk literally ram a car that was too close. Believe it or not, attacks from all kinds of animals DO happen, and you don’t want to be that unlucky visitor! Always stay back at least 100 yards from bears and wolves, and at least 25 yards away from all other animals, including bison and elk.

Be bear aware. Keep all food, trash, and other scented items in a bear-proof container whenever you’re not using it. Ensure you understand how to hike safely in bear country, including the differences between a black and grizzly bear. Make noise and carry bear spray.

Check out this page for lots of other good safety information before you visit!

Best Places to See Yellowstone Wildlife

Lamar Valley – We brought coffee and breakfast and posted up at a viewing pullout for sunrise. The highlight was seeing wolves and a black bear!

Hayden Valley – We hung out here for sunset. We didn’t see much, but it was still beautiful!

Mammoth Hot Springs – We saw tons of elk here, just be careful to keep your distance.

Driving around at dawn and dusk! We honestly saw a ton safely from our car just by getting up early and staying out until dark.

Have you ever been to Yellowstone National Park? If so, we’d love to hear about what kind of animals you saw! Let us know in the comments.