Yellowstone, America's first national park, heeds the call of the wild
Yellowstone National Park and the ground is encrusted with frost – a reminder that autumn will soon succumb to the frigid embrace of
a Wyoming winter . Here in the American West, it can snow as early as September.
Advertisement
The distinctive, far-off yipping of a coyote reverberates off the hillsides, the undulating outlines of which are still shrouded in semi-darkness.
Sunrise over Yellowstone National Park. Photo: Daniel Allen
Despite the early hour, a small but growing group of people gathers on a bank overlooking the silvery ribbon of Buffalo Creek. All eyes, binoculars and telephoto lenses are directed towards a bend in the river, where a black lump sits motionless in the middle of the water, barely visible in the misty twilight.
'Dead buffalo bull,' whispers Hunter Graham, a wildlife guide who escorts tourists through the park all year round. 'Look what's on its back.'
Wolf-watching is a hugely popular activity in Yellowstone National Park and draws plenty of photographers. Photo: Daniel Allen
Standing on the half-eaten carcass is a jet-black female wolf, ears erect, almond eyes shining like liquid green fire. She stares at the hushed tourists for a full minute, then turns to chase off an impudent magpie and resumes tugging at a piece of hide. A bald eagle lands in a nearby tree, waiting for an opportunity to scavenge.
Advertisement
As a representative of the well-known Junction Butte pack, the young female captivates onlookers for a full 15 minutes, before trotting off downriver as dawn finally breaks. Yellowstone's reputation as one of the best places to see apex predators in the wild has been upheld for another day.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Standard
5 days ago
- The Standard
The annual Chinese Lantern Festival in Philadelphia is a symbol of summer in the city
Visitors walk through a lighted tunnel at the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025 in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
South China Morning Post
04-08-2025
- South China Morning Post
Meet the duo behind Nom Life on Instagram and YouTube, a love letter to Asian food, family
Ewa and Jeromy Ko met while working at a Chinese restaurant in Cleveland, in the US state of Ohio. Ewa, who was 18 and waitressing, and Jeromy, a 20-year-old busboy, grew up in the food industry. 'My father worked in restaurants, and Jeromy's family owned a restaurant, so we've been in the food space since we could hold a tray without falling over,' says Ewa. The couple, who recently celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary, are still in the business of food today, but in a slightly different capacity – one they could never have envisaged. They are the creators of Nom Life, a food and travel social media platform with more than half a million Instagram followers and 115,000 subscribers on YouTube. 'We feel so fortunate and never imagined that we would be here doing this as a career,' says Ewa via Zoom from New York, where the couple is now based. Ewa and Jeromy Ko eat a meal at a branch of Chiu Hing Fishball Noodle Rice in Hong Kong. Photo: Nom Life
South China Morning Post
03-08-2025
- South China Morning Post
How do you Kakadu? Crocodile cruises and safari glamping in Australia's Northern Territory
'If you get eaten by a croc,' our guide Dennis Miller says with a grin, 'I'll try to bring back what's left of you.' In true Aussie fashion , he is only half joking. We are, after all, cruising the Yellow Water Billabong in Kakadu National Park, home to around 10,000 crocodiles – or 10 per cent of all the crocs in the Northern Territory. In the dry season from May to October, they sun themselves on the sandy banks. But now, in early April, as the last rains of the wet season linger, they slide silently beneath the surface, practically invisible and certainly deadly to any creature unlucky enough to cross their path. The Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu's most famous wetland, is home to some 10,000 crocodiles. Photo: Handout Advertisement As our boat slices through the flooded wetland, we scan the billabong for ripples and reptilian eyes, while Dennis brings the landscape to life with tales of its seasonal rhythms. 'Big wets [periods of high rainfall] rejuvenate the land,' he says. 'More fish, more birds, more for everyone to eat.' We spot magpie geese, the sacred kingfisher and a white-bellied sea eagle scanning the water from above. Finally, a keen-eyed passenger spots a lone saltwater crocodile perched motionless on an exposed tree root, its knobbled back barely distinguishable from the bark. Encompassing nearly 20,000 square kilometres, Kakadu National Park enjoys Unesco World Heritage status for its blend of rich Aboriginal heritage and diverse, pristine wilderness. Photo: Tourism NT/Hello Emily Finally laying eyes on the fearsome predator is the ideal finale to our river cruise, but in truth, our adventure has just begun. The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory, a tropical frontier at the very northern edge of the continent, is brimming with untamed beauty. With epic waterfalls, ancient rock escarpments and lush, wildlife-rich wetlands, the region is fast emerging as Australia's version of a safari getaway, offering close encounters not only with crocodiles, but also wallabies, dingoes, wild horses and a staggering array of birdlife. At the heart of it all lies Kakadu National Park, a vast 20,000 square kilometre expanse that is not only Australia's largest national park, but also a living cultural landscape. Who's watching who? Wallabies in Kakadu National Park study the visitors. Photo: Karen Tee Kakadu has been shaped in part by the local Aboriginal people , whose ancestors have cared for this land for 65,000 years. Today, these custodians continue practices such as cold fire burning – carefully timed, low-intensity fires that clear areas of underbrush, so reducing the chance of catastrophic wildfires – and share their deep knowledge when guiding tourists.
