On the thousand hills, meadows, crags, and moorlands of the National Parks are herds, flocks, and bands of elk and moose and deer and the agile mountain sheep. There are more than five hundred kinds of birds. A census of wild-life folk in all National Parks would show a numerous population: possibly a hundred thousand elk, half as many deer, several thousand sheep, a few thousand goats, several hundred antelopes, a few hundred moose, a thousand or so of bears, many thousand beavers; minks, conies, marmots, and muskrats in uncountable thousands; and birds in untold millions.
The antelope is a strange, isolated species. Formerly it ranged widely over the plains, but now it is almost exterminated. It has no dewclaw. It can erect and depress its fluff of white tail at will; this is a means of signaling. Of all big game, the antelope perhaps is the fastest runner. This animal sheds the outer part of the horns each year, retaining the spikelike core.
The gray wolf, coyote, fox, lynx, otter, skunk, and porcupine are numerous in the Parks. The porcupine, even at his wildest, shows the least signs of fear and is the dullest-witted animal in the woods.
Glacier Park probably excels in the number of mountain goats. Here they are to be seen in one of the most picturesque and precipitous ranges, in topography which goats enjoy. The Rocky Mountain Park probably excels in the number of bighorn sheep.
Along the streams the picturesque beaver, a permanent home-builder, lately almost exterminated, is reëstablishing himself and restoring the scenes that were known to the pioneers.
The food of the beaver is the bark of aspen and willow trees. He does not eat fish or meat. Instead of hibernating in winter, beavers harvest a quantity of food-supplies in the autumn and store them for winter use. These are piled in the water beside their house. After gnawing down trees, cutting them into sections, and eventually eating the bark, they use the wood in constructing dams and houses.
Besides taking thought for the morrow, they build permanent homes, and keep them clean and in repair. They skillfully construct dams and canals to insure a constant water-supply in which to live, work, play, and travel. These give a charm to landscapes, and are a benefit to mankind. Beavers were the world's first engineers and the first conservationists. They have industry, patience, and persistence, combined with mental power.
They live in colonies or communities. Evidently they know the wisdom of the old saying "All work and no play," etc., for they often play as well as work, and also take a long summer vacation. Excellent workers as they are, they avoid unnecessary labor and do less of it than any other animal I know. There were civic centers in the animal world long before man conceived such an idea for himself.
The mountain lion is one of the slyest and most elusive animals in the woods. Rarely is it seen, although its keen curiosity leads it to come close to camping-parties and to follow individuals through the woods.
On the lower slopes of most Parks a few snakes are found, but they are wholly absent from the middle and the higher slopes.