There are over 30,000 elk—the largest number of any large mammal species in Yellowstone. The northern herd has become much smaller since the mid-1990s. Wolves may cause this. Also, elk use more forested regions to evade the wolves, and make it harder for researchers to count them. The northern herd migrates west into southwestern Montana in the winter. The southern herd migrates southward, and the majority of these elk spend the winter on the National Elk Refuge, southeast of Grand Teton National Park. The southern herd migration is the largest migration of mammals in the U.S. outside of Alaska.
In 2003, the tracks of one female lynx and her cub were spotted and followed for over . Fecal material and other evidence obtained were tested and confirmed to be those of a lynx. No one actually saw a lynx, however. Lynx have not been seen in Yellowstone since 1998, though DNA taken from hair samples showed that lynx were at least passing through the park. Other mammals that are seen less often are the mountain lion and wolverine. There are about 25 mountain lions in the park. People do not know how many wolverines there are.
Yellowstone is also home to six species of reptiles, such as the painted turtle and prairie rattlesnake, and four species of amphibians, including the boreal chorus frog.
Eighteen species of fish live in Yellowstone, including the Yellowstone cutthroat trout. This fish is highly sought by anglers, and most of them live in Yellowstone. The Yellowstone cutthroat trout has faced several threats since the 1980s, including the suspected illegal introduction into Yellowstone Lake of lake trout, an invasive species which eat the smaller cutthroat trout. The cutthroat trout has also faced an ongoing drought, as well as the accidental introduction of a parasite—whirling disease—which kills younger fish. Since 2001, all native sport fish species caught in Yellowstone waterways are subject to a catch and release law.
311 species of birds have been reported. Almost half of them nest in Yellowstone. As of 1999, twenty-six pairs of nesting bald eagles have been documented. Extremely rare sightings of whooping cranes have been recorded; only three are known to live in the Rocky Mountains, out of 385 known worldwide. Other birds, considered to be species of special concern because of their rarity in Yellowstone, include the common loon, harlequin duck, osprey, peregrine falcon and the trumpeter swan.
The reason for the extraordinary climate in Yellowstone is the location of the Rocky Mountains. The temperature at the Mammoth Hot Springs is between in January and in July. Sudden temperature increase or decrease in the middle of a year are not a rare thing.
In summer, there are temperatures of about in the lower areas, but they can go up to sometimes. There are many thunderstorms during the afternoons. There are relatively low temperatures during the night; they can get down to lower null in the mountains. Typical temperatures in winter are between .
The highest temperature was metered with in year 1936, while the lowest metered temperature is in year 1933 in Mason.
Yellowstone has had many tourists. This is mostly because of the natural beauty of Yellowstone Park. Millions of people come to see it every year.
Yellowstone offers many attractions, for example geysers, hot springs, a deep canyon, a river with many falls, forests, seas, mountains, wilderness, and wildlife. A lot of visitors say these attractions are beautiful.
More than 2.8 million tourists have visited Yellowstone since 1990. In 2010, 3.64 million people visited it. About 140,000 people come in the winter to see snow attractions, for example driving snowmobiles. More than 4,500 people work in the various hotels, parks and shops.
Conservation of the environment and life was the main reason for creating the national parks.
Even before the creation of Yellowstone, the naturalist Henry David Thoreau and other supporters asked the government to protect nature and animals in that area. However, when the park was finally created, there was no such law. A law to protect most of the animals from being shot was not adopted until 1883, nearly 10 years after creating the park. Hunting "protected" animals were forbidden under that law. Nevertheless, poachers could still operate. So in 1894, a new law called the "National Park Protection Act" was adopted. The US Congress protected nature, wildlife and other natural resources. The new law forbade the killing or destroying of them, and only fishing was allowed. Nature, for example, trees, mineral resources, and other things, were not allowed to be harmed.
Because Yellowstone has many forests, some fires could occur. The last big fires were the "Yellowstone fires of 1988". They damaged more than of forest area and burned out more than of trees and forest. Also, of bush and grass were damaged. The effect of the fire can still be seen in some places, even after more than 30 years.
After 1988, new fire management plans were introduced: people are now not to fight the fire, but let them burn and observe them. This is to keep the fire controlled. According to the 2004 plan, natural wildfires are allowed to burn so long as fire size, weather, and potential danger are within limits.
National park
A national park is a park or a area of land officially recognized and protected by a nation's government. National parks are often made to protect the animals that live inside them or the land itself. There are many National Parks in the world.
The first one established (in 1872) was the United States Yellowstone National Park. It was the first national park in the world. But the idea of protecting areas from human development was proposed years earlier. American painter George Catlin offered the idea during the 1830s.
An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined National Parks as its category II type of protected areas. The largest national park in the world meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974. According to the IUCN, there are about 7000 national parks worldwide (2010 figure).
In 1969 the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) declared a national park to be a relatively large area with:
While national parks are generally understood to be administered by national governments (hence the name), in Australia national parks are run by State Governments and predate the Federation of Australia. Also in Japan, some of them called "Quasi-national Parks" (国定公園) are recognized by the government and managed by local governments.
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British Victorian politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for the Liberal Party in four terms between 1868 and 1894.
His career lasted more than 60 years. He served as Liberal Prime Minister four times. This was more than any other person (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). Gladstone was 84 years old when he resigned for the last time. This made him Britain's oldest ever Prime Minister. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times (1853–1855, 1859–1866, 1873–1874 and 1880–1882).
Gladstone was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was better known throughout his time in office as Sir Anthony Eden. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.
Eden was one of the best-known politicians of his generation. He was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1935 by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and resigned in 1938 in protest at Chamberlain's appeasement of Adolf Hitler. He was Churchill's Foreign Secretary during World War II, and again in 19511955.