Yellowstone National Park: Did You Know?
Yellowstone National Park is truly one of the most unique places on Earth, and everyone should make an effort to visit at least once. With all of its geysers, hot springs, mud pots, steam vents, wildlife, rivers, lakes, mountains and wilderness, Yellowstone has something for everyone. Check out the following trivial facts about Yellowstone and its many natural wonders.
Did you know:
The Upper Geyser Basin (location of Old Faithful) contains the densest concentration of geysers in the world. Twenty five percent (25%) of the world’s geysers are located in this two square mile area.
At Norris Geyser Basin, magma is closer to the surface than any other place in the park. When you drill a hole in the crust of the earth, the temperature increases the further down you go. Normally, this temperature increase is fairly constant at 1.4 degrees F for every 100 feet down. However, a hole drilled at Norris Geyser Basin showed the temperature increased 89 times faster, at a rate of 124 degrees F for every 100 feet down.
The Old Faithful Geyser spews about 8,500 gallons of water everytime it erupts.
On average, seismographs pick up 2,000 earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park each year.
On August 17, 1959, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit the Yellowstone area at 11:37 p.m. The quake was centered near Hebgen Lake just west of the park, and it was the largest earthquake ever recorded in Montana.
The fires of 1988 burned about 800,000 acres inside Yellowstone Park and another 400,000 acres around the park, an area about equal to the size of Delaware. However, only one-third of the park burned.
On average, 22 forest fires are started in the park by lightning each year; however, in 1988 about 50 fires were started by lightning.
About 86% of the rock in Yellowstone is volcanic, and the rest is sedimentary.
Pushed upward by a churning sea of magma, the land in Yellowstone has been rising at an average rate of one inch per year.
The Yellowstone caldera is the largest known center of active volcanism on the planet, measuring 45 by 30 miles.
During an eruption of the Yellowstone caldera two million years ago, 600 cubic miles of ash were ejected, enough to evenly cover the entire state of Montana in 20 feet of ash.
Yellowstone Lake holds about four billion gallons of water.
Five percent of Yellowstone’s surface area is water with Yellowstone Lake making up the majority at 136 square miles.
The record high temperature for Yellowstone was recorded in Lamar Valley in 1936 at 98 degrees F. The record low temperature for Yellowstone was recorded in Madison in February 1933 at 66 degrees below zero.
The largest rodent in the park is the beaver, weighing up to 90 pounds when full grown and well fed.
A five ounce pocket gopher can move approximately five tons of soil per year.
A moose can keep its head underwater grazing on aquatic plants for up to three minutes at a time.
Wolves were completely absent from Yellowstone for about 70 years prior to being reintroduced in 1995. It’s believed that the last Yellowstone wolf was killed in 1926.
An estimated 10,000 elk live in Yellowstone National Park, making it the park’s most numerous large mammal.
Bison do not get cancer. They are thought to be the only mammal with immunity to cancer.
Bison can live 30 to 40 years.
Bison weigh up to 2,000 pounds (one ton) and can run at speeds up to 45 miles per hour.
A grizzly bear will eat an average of 35 pounds of food each day. They typically spend 20 hours out of every 24 hours eating, consuming 20,000 calories daily and gaining 40 pounds a week. That would be equivalent to a human eating 40 hamburgers and 40 ice cream sundaes everyday.
The hump on a grizzly’s back is made of muscle, which is used to dig for food and to make dens.
From a standing point, a grizzly bear can run 100 meters in six seconds.
Grizzly bears can live up to 30 years in the wild.
Lake Hotel is the oldest hotel still in use in the park. Built with Northern Pacific Railroad money between 1889 and 1891, it was completely remodeled in the mid-1980’s and restored to its original glory. It’s also the world’s longest wooden hotel at 890 feet long.
On average in the summer time, the water temperature of Yellowstone Lake is 41 degrees F. The average survival time in water that cold is 30 minutes.
Yellowstone became the first national park in 1872.
There are countless other trivial facts and natural wonders in Yellowstone National Park. Plan your next vacation at Yellowstone National Park and experience them first hand. Yellowstone received a record number of visitors last year, so plan accordingly and make your reservations as soon as possible. For more information about Yellowstone National Park including lodging, things to do, major attractions, wildlife, news and weather, visit National Park Travel at www.nationalparktravel.com. You can also get a DVD about Yellowstone National Park by visiting the National Park Video Library at http://www.nationalparktravel.com/videolibrary.htm.
