Wildlife, Yosemite National Park

If you spend any time walking through the valley, you should see plenty of wildlife. I have seen bear, raccoon, coyote, deer and many others in the few times that I have been here.
Please don't chase the wildlife though and don't throw food at them.
In April 2004, we were able to watch a coyote hunting in the meadows. He was hunting small rodents as far as we could tell. He did come across some deer, which let him know that they weren't going to put up with him and chased him away.

While leaving the Yosemite Village, we found many cars stopped in the middle of the road.
We saw no reason for it "Oh God! Traffic! Even here!"
The reason actually was this coyote, placidly walking at the side of the road, a few meters away from cars and people taking pictures, with absolutely no fear at all.
It only escaped when a stupid visitor horns in his car.
It is a great truth of life that the stupids' mother is always pregnant.

How taking a picture like this is actually difficult!
These lovely creatures run everywhere, even very close to humans. They probably know that nobody will ever hurt them here.
This squirrel was a couple of meters away from the entrance of the shop.
That place was crowded! Full of people entering the shop and exiting with tons of goods and nonsenses, but he was not afraid of us, only fleeing if closely approached

As soon as we entered the Yosemite National Park, my friends were happy as they were visiting a nice place.
They appear as they were thinking they were visiting a large, beautiful, but regular forest, as many others we have in Italy.
I remained silent, as many things were still to discover that day.
As soon as we entered the Yosemite Valley, we stumbled in this wonderful deer quietly wandering aside the road. They remained with no words, these enconters not happen often in Italy...

Yosemite National Park is home to a variety of animals. Bears, mountain lions, deer, birds, coyotes, and squirrels all call it home. Squirrels and deer are the most often seen wandering around the green meadows. We also passed a small fox on the road, as well as a coyote. The deer and squirrels are very comfortable with the large amount of tourists, and let you get extremely close. Remember, they are still wild animals and it is illegal to feed them. Follow all the park warnings when camping or dealing with the animals, for yours and the animals safety.

I've been to Yosemite several times, but only saw coyotes in the winter. Perhaps in winter food doesn't come by easy, so they come a lot closer to human for food. Although I never heard any accidents involving coyotes, most people try to scare them away when they see coyotes near their houses or cars.

Most visitors to Yosemite Valley are warned about the bears, but the wildlife they are more likely to see is deer. The kind of deer that live in Yosemite are mule deer. The name comes from their long, mule-like ears. Like bears, deer also like to hang around people for food. The photo was taken behind Ahwahnee Hotel where the restaurant puts out their garbage.

The tourist-fed squirrels of Yosemite are very friendly, forward and well fed. Perhaps too well fed. Like you know if you were out there alone at night, the squirrels might gang up and eat you.

Don't worry about finding these guys because they will find you. I guarantee you, you will definitely see a variety of critters in the park.

Wildlife abounds in Yosmite National Park. You'll find small squirrels hopping along the trails and not very afraid of humans. This one was playing a game of peek-a-boo with me and my uncle.