Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, MT

We are currently boondocking about 15 minutes from West Yellowstone. We wanted to stay here again, so we could visit the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, MT.

We went to the Grizzly and Wolf center a couple years ago, and really enjoyed it. Obviously I would rather see animals in their natural habitat, but I also understand the role places like this have in the world. Educating the public on bear activity, bear safety, and the lives they lead is top priority at the center. The bears, and wolves who live at the discovery center, are there for various reasons. The bears were either orphaned because their mom got in trouble, or they are bears that repeatedly got in trouble themselves. They would no doubt have been put down, if places like this didn’t take them in.

The bears have dens where they stay, until it’s time for them to go out in the grizzly habitat. 2 of the bears come out alone, but the others are either in 2’s or 3’s. It all depends on who gets along with who. Prior to the bears going into the habitat, the workers will go out and rearrange trees, and rocks. Hide food, under and on top of things, and generally try to make the bears work for their food. They will lift the rocks, move the logs, and even climb a tree if they put something there.

And the ravens have this whole thing figured out. They start flying over there before the workers even get there. And once the bears come out and start moving stuff around, they are right there for their share of it.

Photo bomb raven. I love this funny image.

They have a waterfall, and a pond to swim in too.

These two bears are Grant, and Roosevelt. They are Yellowstone bears whose mother was killed in 2011 over safety concerns for the public. (seems vague to me, but that’s the story) They go to the habitat with a third bear, Coram.

Grant and Roosevelt spent almost the whole time wrestling in the pond.

This is all 3 of them in the pond together. It was so fun to watch them in the water, and I took hundreds of photos.

The wolves are pretty cool too.

I love the faces. These guys were pretty aware of what was happening around them. I had to wonder what they thought of the people looking at them.

Big soft dogs. Lol. Probably not.

When we went back Saturday evening for our second day, they even howled for us. Now that….is an eerie sound.

Those eyes!

I created this art piece from an image of the brothers. I love everything about their faces in this.

They really do a good job with both the bears, and wolves in helping them live as natural as possible in confinement. The wolves get deer and elk carcasses that hunters donate, as well as fresh meat daily.

There are also a few raptors, eagles, hawks and owls. And next year they will be done with a riparian exhibit that will have river otters, and other river life.

I would highly recommend a visit if you are in the area, it was well worth the $13 admission. The admission price is good for 2 days, and we took advantage of that and went twice. Good for kids, as well as adults, and very educational.