Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

In West Yellowstone, there is the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. This is not-for-profit wildlife park and educational center that showcases grizzly bears and gray wolves in natural habitats. They have seven grizzlies which are not capable of living in the wild. They showcase two to three grizzly bears every 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

The Learning Center has 25 taxidermic specimens on display. These have come from private collections, confiscated specimens, and road kill. The displays are spectacular and very informative. We can now tell the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear. Good information to have if you are out hiking. There is some conflict has to how best to conduct yourself should you run across a bear in the wild. Black bears most likely will run and go up a tree; whereas, with the grizzly, there is a 50/50 chance that you will make the wrong decision on how to conduct yourself. I guess we better never run in to a grizzly in the wild!

The grizzlys have a very nice habitat. They have a pool and waterfall to play in along with interactive toys. They know when they come out of their pens that there is food hidden under rocks and such for them. They come running out and start searching. After a while, it is play time. When they hear a bell, they run for their enclosures. Us human's didn't hear the shift change bell but they sure did. They seem to be well conditioned.

This grizzly is their largest bear. He knows he is the boss!

There was a bit of an issue over food and guess who won? The big guy, himself.
Play time in the pool. Actually, the bear is playing with a piece of rawhide while staying cool in the water. We learned that the bears will dig out some dirt and lie in it to cool their bellies which have the least amount of fur.
The wolves are in a beautiful enclosure. They seem to just be pacing with one taking a break in the shade. They have a building dedicated to wolve information and is where we say a nice video on a wolf pack.
There were four wolves in the enclosure. The intent of the facility is to increase awareness and understanding of these animals.
If you would like more information, you can go to their website: http://www.grizzlydiscoverctr.org/. This facility is well worth visiting. The admission is good for two consecutive days.

After we had a nice BBQ steak dinner at home, we decided to take the drive in to Yellowstone NP to Madison in hopes of seeing some moose. No luck with seeing any moose but we did get to watch a bison walk down the middle of the road holding up traffic, a coyote out hunting not very far from some fly fisherman, cow elk, and we were able to spot the baby eagle standing up in its nest.

Came home and finished up the dishes. Spent some time on the internet and went to bed late. John fell asleep but I just tossed and turned what seemed like hours. It didn't help any having our neighbor come home at 12:15 a.m. and finish his setting up of his pop-up. Not very considerate.