Wildlife., Jasper National Park

Jasper National Park is known for its abundance of wildlife. You will undoubtably encounter some animals along your way, either from the safety of your car or while out hiking. As long as you keep your distance and don't startle an animal, you should be fine. While hiking, it is recommended that you make alot of noise, by talking, singing or just stomping along loudly so that the animals will hear you coming and clear out before you get there.

At Jasper it is common to see Black bear and Grizzly bear, moose, elk, deer, mountain goats, Bighorn sheep and coyote. Drive slowly, keep your eyes peeled and your zoom lens handy.

An amazing variety of wildlife, including large populations of grizzly and black bears, mountain caribou, elk, moose and wolves call Jasper National Park home.
The best times of year to visit Jasper, if you are looking for this wildlife are from March to June or in the fall from September to November.
Anne and I travelled in the Fall.

Well maybe some of you have seen it ,I did not know about it ,but something made me get up early and go for a stroll in Jasper.I am glad I did ,I will show you what I saw when walking out of the Jasper Inn.Lucky I brought my camera.
At first a little Elk just strolling across the road coming from across the railroad out of bush, nice small size Elk.

So the Elks are not scared at all , they just mosy on onto the lawns of the Hotels and eat the grass ,but it was 5.30 in the morning ,so nobody out there but me , and they did not care if I was there or not.
So now we got 4 Elks I ended up seeing 7 Elks total.

Walking on the road I started looking for more Elk , it looked like the young ones come first and after the more mature Elk made their way over the road ,and they were more cautious then the younger Elk.This picture is of two beautiful more mature Elk.

This Elk looked like the daddy Elk ,big antlers and big appetite.
I was sure nice to see all these Elk having their breakfast ,but I wonder what the Hotel owners think of that.
So it was a pleasant surprise to see these Elk , but remember it was 5.30 in the morning , i doubt they will be there at 8 am.

I do know about not feeding the wildlife , but well we had some slices of bread left and this big black raven really put on a big show for us ,so we gave him/her the reward for entertaining us .I looked like these birds sit and wait somewhere till cars stop at the viewpoint and then they fly over and come and check things out. This raven sure was used to people. I have put more pictures of this Raven visit in my travelogue.

This bull moose was standing just off to the side of the road that leads out to Maligne Lake. It seemed more interested in eating whatever was in this swampy water but I still took the photo from inside the car.

Keep your eyes peeled. As you drive along you may be llucky to spot Elk along the side of the road - a good reason to drive carefully in case they decide to cross the road. Treat wildlife with repect, you are in their habitat!

Black bears are commonly seen in the Rockies, so it's important to use bear-proof garbage tanks, and don't leave food open in the wild or in your car. I didn't see any grizzly though. The photo was taken on Miette Hot Springs Road where I saw a mommy bear with a couple of cubs.