Yellowstone National Park in northern Wyoming, our country's first National Park, is known for its spectacular geothermal wonders: mud pots, steam vents, hot springs, and roaring geysers. Every year the park accommodates more than four million visitors, yet it remains a sanctuary for wildlife such as wolves, coyotes, elk, bears, bison, river otters and foxes.
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Thomas Moran was an early twentieth-century American artist whose Yellowstone watercolors where shown to Congress by national park proponents. His artwork was a powerful argument, and Congress established the National Park Service (NPS) in 1916. This Web exhibit features Moran's watercolors and sketches and the photography of William Henry Jackson, another member of the original Yellowstone survey team.
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Yellowstone is famous for its 200 geysers, and Old Faithful is the most famous of all. Although it is neither the largest nor most regular, it's popular because it erupts more frequently than the other big Yellowstone geysers. Each morning, the Old Faithful Web Cam site calculates the day's schedule, based on an average interval of eighty minutes between eruptions. When you arrive, you'll see a countdown to the next expected performance and a real-time photo that refreshes every thirty seconds. If you visit at night, or can't wait for the next live show, check out the archive of past eruptions.
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Eloquent prose, fabulous photographs, amazing 3-D tours and three marvelous Webquests (for students in grades four through six) make this my pick-of-the-day site. Start your adventure with the virtual panoramic tours of Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Fall and Old Faithful. Other great clicks are Reflections on Yellowstone (a look the land and the threats closing in on it), Featured Creatures (bears, wolves, elk and bison), and the Yellowstone screensavers for Mac and Windows.
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Yellowstone's hot waters are the secret to the river otter's survival through the cold, icy winters. The same energy that shoots geysers into the air, stops Yellowstone rivers and lakes from freezing over, thus insuring the otters a steady supply of fish to eat. A relative of the sea otter and the weasel, Yellowstone's river otters are fun to watch, as they are constantly in motion, avoiding predators. Best clicks are Life of the Otter and Inside the Hot Zone.
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Start your game session with Antler & Horn Match by clicking on the antlers or horns which belong to the pictured animal. Do you know the difference between horns and antlers? Antlers, found on male deers, are part of the animal's skull. Horns, found on sheep, bison, and many other bovines, are a two-part structure: an interior of skull bone covered by a sheath similar to our fingernails. Pre-readers will like the alphabet and coloring pages. Older kids can join in the Yellowstone Website Scavenger Hunt, and test their Yellowstone knowledge with a quiz.
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By Barbara J. Feldman. Originally written on Mar 05, 2003. Last Modified on Jan 07, 2008.
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Buy Yellowstone National Park Printable for $2.00 or try a FREE trial of the Printables Club
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Honorable Mentions
The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
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