Beth with Vice President Biden

Although I am a big supporter of the stimulus funding in the parks, and was eager to hear his message on the topic, I most appreciated when the Vice President deviated from the topic and went off script with a personal story. He told about his trip to Yellowstone with his two sons not long after the car crash that killed his wife and daughters. Yellowstone had helped them heal, he conveyed to us, and I related to his sentiment.  Yosemite, Yellowstone--parks had always helped me heal. The video below captures him relating this story.

For a more formal report on the Vice President's visit, you can read my Examiner article.

Two curious grizzly bear cubs gaze at onlookers in Yellowstone (Photo by Beth Pratt)

Today the mother and her large family rewarded early morning wildlife watchers by making an excursion in close proximity to the road. Visitors could clearly view the cubs playing and climbing on their mother without using a spotting scope or binoculars.

Most grizzly bears give birth to one or two cubs, with an occasionally set of triplets appearing as well. Four cubs in one litter is a rarity. Although not all four offspring are expected to survive, all cubs appeared active and well this morning.

Newborn elk calf at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, Yellowstone (Photo by Beth Pratt)

Today, guests at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel witnessed the birth of an elk calf on the property’s grounds. Some onlookers continued to watch the calf and its mother for hours, and many clapped when the newborn took its first steps. As a protection against predators, elk calves can walk an hour after being born.

Just a few miles south of Mammoth Hot Springs, people continue to gather in Swan Lake Flat to view a grizzly bear and her four cubs as they wander in the open meadows and hillsides. Most grizzly bears give birth to 1-2 cubs, with an occasional set of triplets occurring, but a grizzly with four cubs is a rarity. The runt of the litter has been spotted frequently hitching a ride on his mother’s back.

And yesterday afternoon a herd of bighorn sheep delighted visitors in the Gardner Canyon by frolicking with their baby lambs on cliffs near the roadside. One curious lamb seemed to pose for the photographers as it stood upright on a rocky ledge. Within two weeks of their birth, bighorn lambs are able to run with adults to escape danger.

For guided wildlife watching trips in Yellowstone, contact Yellowstone National Park Lodges or the non-profit Yellowstone Association.

View an assortment of “baby” portraits of some of Yellowstone’s wildlife below.

Grizzly bear with four cubs in Yellowstone, June 5, 2010 (photo by Beth Pratt)

Grizzly bears often give birth to one or two cubs, and occasionally have three offspring. This year, visitors have flocked to an area just outside Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park to witness a rarity: four adorable bear cubs parading behind their mother.

Watch a video of this unusual bear family:

The bear family has been spotted almost daily in the area near Bunsen Peak and Swan Lake Flat, with the four cubs frolicking and playing in the vicinity of their mother. A grizzly sow gives birth to a litter of cubs during hibernation in January or February, and the cubs usually remain with her for two winters after birth.

Yesterday this remarkable bear family spent the morning wandering in the meadows of Swan Lake Flat and hundreds of visitors watched the playful antics of the cubs. Unfortunately, not all of the cubs are expected to survive, and one of the four appears much smaller than its siblings.

Yellowstone is home to over 150 grizzly bears who reside permanently in the park, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem houses over 600 of the animals. Black bears also live in Yellowstone National Park and are commonly sighted as well.

The Yellowstone grizzly bear was recently placed back on the endangered species in 2009 as climate change is having an impact on an important food source for the animal—the whitebark pine nut. Yellowstone’s grizzlies called attention to their plight in an amusing protest video directed at Stephen Colbert.

River otter eating a trout in Yellowstone National Park (photo by Beth Pratt)

Note: My expert sources say this might be a German Brown Trout--care to weigh in?

One of the otters struggled with the mighty fish for about fifteen minutes—the trout did not yield without a fight (see a photo slideshow of the struggle below). Cutthroat trout are a keystone species in the park and provide a vital food source for a variety of other wildlife, including grizzly bears, osprey, bald eagles, pelicans, and weasels. Anglers must release the cutthroat as the fish faces a number of threats, most notable from competition with and predation by non-native trout.

The Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley, where these two otters made their impressive catch, is prime cutthroat habitat—and as a result a good place for otters to frequent as well. River otters spin and swirl playfully in the park’s riverways, and can also be viewed in Yellowstone Lake. Although the animal is not very agile on land, it maneuvers deftly and quickly in the water and can swim at speeds of up to six miles per hour.

And now you can also profit from her cuisine and travel related wisdom as she's just unveiled her new blog: Junket. The blog contains great photos (the food related ones will make you hungry!), witty stories and a personalized rating system. Check out her new photos of her recent hike on Yosemite's Mist Trail that she just posted.

Yellowstone's boreal chorus frog inspires research on vaccine transport (Photo courtesy Georgia Tech)

Professor Jeannette Yen, Director of the Center for Biologically Inspired Design at Georgia Tech, described the relationships between these seemingly unrelated things during a presentation today in Yellowstone National Park.

“Imagine what Yellowstone can inspire,” Yen told the audience. She teaches a course on biologically inspired design and this spring tasked her freshman class in developing innovative products and techniques based on Yellowstone’s unique living world—one of the largest intact wild ecosystems on earth.

“Yellowstone has such a richness of organisms and a range of challenges—like extreme cold or thermal activity—that all animals and plants address successfully. The diversity of this place has blown me away,” said Yen.

Life in the first national park has already been the impetus for a number of research and design projects. For example, the intrepid Boreal chorus frog survives Yellowstone’s harsh winters in a frozen hibernation.  To accomplish this, the animal raises its blood sugar levels to prevent tissue damage—the water outside the tissues freeze, the water inside the tissues is protected by the blood sugar “antifreeze.” Scientists are studying this amazing process to improve techniques for transporting and preserving vaccines.

During their annual rut, bighorn sheep engage in horn-to-horn combat as they establish dominance. Some of these contests can last up to 24 hours and the animals can collide at speeds of over 40 mph. The honeycomb structure of its horn base and its perfectly aligned spine create a highly effective shock system that helps it resist injury. This natural system is helping researchers design better collision resistant material for automobiles.

Professor Yen hopes designs inspired from life in Yellowstone will not only provide practical technological solutions, but will also help motivate the protection of its ecosystem. “I hope the designs will remind us of the organisms that inspired it and as a result help us promote the conservation of biodiversity in the world.”

Yellowstone visitors enjoyed frequent sightings of grizzly bears this week (Photo by Beth Pratt)

This past week, wolves made regular excursions to snack on a carcass at a roadside location near the Gardner River and attracted daily crowds. A grizzly bear and bison tussled on the Grand Loop Road in front of dozens of people. Adorable newborn bison calves, with their distinct orange coats, trotted alongside their mothers to the delight of park visitors. A black wolf scouted an elk carcass lying in the Gibbon River. And a few people reported sightings of a grizzly bear with four cubs wandering in the Swan Lake Flats area.

Despite numerous snowstorms in the park this past week, Yellowstone offered spectacular wildlife watching opportunities to visitors braving the snowy, spring weather. Wildlife experience their own spring fever, some giving birth to offspring and gorging on food after a long, hungry winter. For wildlife lovers, May and early June are excellent times for experiencing frequent animal encounters in the park.

When visiting Yellowstone, check at any open park visitor center or at the non-profit Yellowstone Association’s new Gardiner Arch Store for an updated listing of wildlife sightings.

For information on traveling to Yellowstone, visit the National Park Service website.

Information on lodging and services can be found online at Yellowstone National Park Lodges.

For a great wildlife watching experience, consider taking a tour with a park guide. Both the non-profit Yellowstone Association or Yellowstone National Park Lodges offer a variety of wildlife tours.

Pronghorn in Yellowstone's northern range on March 10, 2010 (photo by Beth Pratt)

The nomadic pronghorns that inhabit the western United States wander long distances on their annually migration—research has shown movement up to 300 miles.  Yet the migration of Yellowstone’s pronghorn—numbering roughly 300—has been sharply curtailed by human development as Tom Arrandale documents in a recent article for the National Parks Conservation Association, “Going Nowhere Fast.”

For the pronghorn herds that inhabit the park, a historical migration that once took the animals up the river canyon to nearby Paradise Valley in Montana has now been shortened considerably. Some of the pronghorn even forgo migrating and live year-round near the north entrance and Gardiner, searching out sustenance from the sparse forage during the winter months.

Pronghorn are truly remarkable animals. Called “speed goats” by Lewis and Clark, the fleet-footed creatures can sprint across a grassy steppe at speeds of up to 60 mph. As the fastest land mammal in North America, an adult pronghorn can outrun its predators; even a newborn fawn a couple of days after its birth can run faster than a human. Pronghorn are not true antelope, despite their mention in the well-known song, "Home on th Range," under that name.

Another spring arrival who Yellowstone locals enjoy greeting is a solitary pronghorn buck, alternatively nicknamed Peanut, Solo, or Andy by residents. In the spring and summer months he can often be seen grazing or napping contently in the grasslands and hillsides near Roosevelt Arch or on the lawns of some of the park’s historic structures outside of Gardiner.

Viewing pronghorn in Yellowstone: Pronghorn can be seen year-round at the park’s northern entrance, but are most noticeable during early spring on the Rescue Creek Trail and Old Gardner Road. In summer, the animals are often spotted in Lamar Valley as well.

Yellowstone's frogs in new airport PSA (image courtesy Save the Frogs)

Frog populations have been declining worldwide at unprecedented rates, and nearly one-third of the world’s over 6,000 amphibian species are threatened with extinction. Up to 200 species have completely disappeared since 1980, while amphibians naturally go extinct at a rate of only about one species every 250 years.

In Yellowstone, a recent study found that three of the four species of the park’s amphibians had decreased as a result of climate change. Researchers surveyed kettle ponds (ponds originally formed when glaciers retreated and fed by snowmelt and groundwater) between 2006 and 2008 in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley. They discovered that dry ponds have increased 4-fold in the past sixteen years, and as a result eliminated a large segment of ideal amphibian habitat in the park.

Dr. Kerry Kriger, founder and Executive Director of Save the Frogs, visited Yellowstone last year and gave a talk to park visitors about amphibian decline. He got the idea for the PSAs and approached ClearChannel about placement in airports; the company agreed to help.

Kriger hopes the public will take notice and take action. “The goal of the ad is to raise awareness of amphibian declines, and to ensure that people know that climate change is a problem now, not something that needs to be dealt with in the future. I've always thought that Yellowstone embodied the issue, as it's the world's oldest protected area: if we can't save Yellowstone's wildlife, how much chance do we have to save wildlife anywhere else?”

Save the Frogs is also holding its second annual Save the Frogs Day on April 30, 2010. Events are being planned throughout the United States, South Africa, India, Australia, Croatia, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Colombia. For more information, or to participate in the event, visit the Save the Frogs website.