Xploring Wildlife: Animal Connections & Protecting Our Iconic Fauna

Wildlife has always been a profound way for humans to connect with the natural world, providing a universal link to the landscapes we explore. It connects people and place, creating new memories and helping us delve deeper into an environment. At the same time, this exploration can be harmful - from exploitative tourism practices to over-hunting or introducing and spreading fatal diseases.

In this blog, we’re only scratching the surface of what some of the iconic American wildlife represents to our communities, how we connect with them, and what their chief conservation challenges are. Read on to also learn best practices for reducing the risk of lead poisoning in bald eagles, how to interact with brown and black bears, respect bison, or protect elk and moose from deadly disease. And please get in touch with us to propose what other wildlife you’d like to see covered in future stories. 

How Do We Connect with Places through Wildlife?

For as long as humans have walked our planet, wildlife has been a subject of fascination, whether as an object of worship, a key character in stories and dreams, or a hunting target. What makes wild animals so emblematic and important in our connection with nature is that they are one of the most powerful and universal links with our surroundings. They don’t discriminate against anyone, they uniquely touch every person, and they represent something different to each of us.

The added interdependence between iconic wildlife and their geographic location (e.g., the African elephants and the savannah, or the bald eagle and North America) makes it easier to instantly connect with a place when we encounter their representations. For generations, we can see people traveling around the world to witness some of these iconic species in their habitat: from the great wildebeest migration in the Serengeti and Mara of East Africa to seeing the polar bears in the Arctic, or caribou, moose, and more in Alaska. 

There is a certain joy in getting to know places by knowing their animals. The patterns and behaviors of wildlife become synonymous with those locations (like annual migrations or mating seasons), as do the sounds they make. All that helps us forge attachment to places. As John Aitchinson writes in The Ecologist, looking for wildlife also allows us to discover details that we’d never seen before - giving us “a reason to look harder, to intensify the colors, and the sounds, and the smells.”

Wildlife is a huge part of how we connect with places, whether we get to know them as iconic images, through their unmistakable calls, songs, and sounds, or through hunting and tracking.

Discover the wildlife of Alaska on its hand-illustrated state map

Iconic Wildlife of Our National Parks

US National Parks are blessed with a fantastic variety of wildlife, which also forms a huge part of the attraction for their visitors. There’s moose in Denali, Olympic marmots in Olympic National Park, or elk in Grand Teton - to name just a few. Despite how much love we may harbor for all these, they are also faced with important conservation challenges which we must be aware of when visiting. Here are only a few of the most prominent ones.

Bald Eagles

Already close to local extinction in the contiguous United States in the late 20th century, this iconic bird presents lots of challenges to its health and livelihood. The species was taken off the endangered, then threatened list in 2007, however, dangers to its health continue to exist. 

A paper published in 2022 in Science Magazine, led by Dr Vince Slabe, showed the continent-wide consequences on bald and golden eagles demographics as a result of chronic lead poisoning. Nearly 50% of eagles studied exhibited chronic lead poisoning, as a result of ingesting fragments of lead ammo and fishing gear found in the water. These birds become weaker and uncoordinated and can be seen unable to move, ultimately dying as they don’t eat.  You can learn more about Dr Slabe’s work on The Trail Less Traveled Podcast.

To avoid lead poisoning in eagles, the National Wildlife Federation runs the Lead-Free Landscapes program to help explain how lead-free ammunition and tackle alternatives can be used. It’s important to know that this isn’t a significantly more expensive option and that it can make a huge difference to the populations of bald and golden eagles, but also condors. 

Finally, if you’re interested in learning more about lead poisoning in the eagle population and how you can help with efforts to protect them, the Wild Skies Raptor Center in Montana has more information and resources. Learn more about lead-free sporting here.

Admire & learn more about bald eagles on our Wildlife Notecards.

Grizzly / Brown Bears

The bear population across the United States includes black and brown or grizzly species. We often mistake one for another, so it’s important to be aware of their various distinctive looks and behaviors. The National Park Service also explains that the bears living in the coastal areas of Alaska are generally referred to as brown bears, while the inland ones are grizzlies (and are often smaller). You can recognize them by a distinctive shoulder hump, but not necessarily by color, since so-called black bears are not necessarily black only. You can differentiate American black bears from brown and grizzlies with the aid of the NPS guide. 

When you’re out exploring the wilderness, the main challenge linked to grizzly bears is knowing how to react to the possibility of an encounter. The saying goes that “a dead bear has not learned a lesson,” so improving the livelihood of bears while protecting tourism is linked inextricably to knowing how to deter bears and how to use bear spray. Some essential tips on this topic:

• Carry your bear spray where it’s within reach - on your hip, not at the bottom of your backpack!
• Most bears will avoid humans if they hear them coming, so pay attention to your environment and make an effort to be noticeable by speaking loudly or singing; a way to identify potentially dangerous sections of your walk is to first check in with your national park visitor center, where they can highlight areas with known bear activity.
• A good tip to be noticeable is to hike with a bell attached to your backpack.
• Ensure you lift your food away from camp overnight - 10 feet off the ground and 8 feet from the trunk of a tree in a bear bag.
• If you are surprised by a bear, keep your calm; if you notice one but it hasn’t seen you, keep a low profile and wait for it to pass.

In the case of a bear encounter:

• Talk calmly so the bear knows you are a human and not prey. Stand and wave your arms, without panicking if the bear stands as well on its hind legs - this usually means it’s curious and trying to get a better look at you or smell you;
• Most bears do not want to attack, in fact, they’d prefer to be left alone; some may pretend to charge at you and turn around at the last minute, so keep staying calm, talking without sudden movements or loud noises;
• It’s better to hike in groups because you’ll make more noise and help bears be aware of you, thus avoiding you;
• Make yourself as big as you can by moving to a higher ground;
• Do not drop your bag - if the bear attacks, the bag can become a way to protect yourself from it; it can also give the bear access to your food, which will encourage it to attack humans in the future;
• Do not run away. If the bear follows you, stop and hold your ground; bears are very fast - you will not outrun them!
• Do not climb a tree - both grizzly bears and black bears are very nimble and will climb after you.

• Protect your dog and black bears alike by keeping it on a leash at all times in bear territory. 

If you are attacked by a grizzly bear, play dead with your pack on. Lay on your stomach with your hands clasped behind your neck, protecting your internal organs. Spread your legs, which will make it harder for the bear to turn you over. If the bear does persist in its attack, ONLY THEN, fight back vigorously and use whatever you have available to hit the bear in the face. However, if you are attacked by a black bear, do not play dead - try to escape to a safe place and, if that’s impossible, try to fight back using any object available. 

Finally, an important point about protecting our bear population and being responsible while visiting bear habitats is food storage. In Montana, we have had cases of bears breaking into cabins where a freezer had been left unplugged, leaving rotting meat accessible to wildlife. We must be very careful to store food safely and out of the reach of bears, as well as to put away waste in containers that bears cannot be tempted to come to. 

Find out more about bear conservation and interacting with bears safely and responsibly courtesy of Montana Grizzly Encounter. 

Bison, Moose, and Elk

From Alaska to Grand Teton National Park and throughout the contiguous United States, iconic animals like bison, moose, and elk are also vulnerable to irresponsible tourism or human interactions.

Bison are the so-called “gardeners of the prairie,” majestic animals that once roamed in such vast herds that we cannot even visualize (the “American Serengeti”). They became almost extinct in the 19th century because of hunting and the introduction of bovine diseases from domestic cattle. However, after concentrated recovery efforts, the species now once again roam freely in the wild in several of our national parks, such as Yellowstone. 

Nowadays, numerous projects throughout the country ensure that bison are looked after and continue to be emblematic of their communities. This includes quarantining migrating animals to ensure they do not transport diseases, and releasing them into indigenous communities or harvesting them and giving their meat back to those communities. The Yellowstone Bison Conservation and Transfer Program, for example, has transferred over 400 animals to the Fort Peck Reservation since 2019. 

Bison-grazed pastures tend to have higher forb cover and vascular plant diversity. Bison is also known to be a very healthy, low-cholesterol meat to consume. Welcoming these animals within our communities and harvesting them consciously, in collaboration with accredited programs, has not only allowed them to endure among us - but also offered numerous benefits to the environment and the people on it.

When it comes to moose and elk, other iconic American animals, their biggest vulnerability is Chronic Wasting Disease - a fatal type of prion disease that can spread through contact with saliva blood, urine or feces of an infected animal. Scientists also believe that it spreads indirectly through soil, drinking water or food, which is why it is essential that dead infected animals be disposed of safely, and not just left on the ground to decompose. 

If you live or travel through an area with documented cases of Chronic Wasting Disease, we recommend steering clear of eating the brains of animals that could carry it (despite the disease not yet having spread to humans). Additionally, hunters need to be aware that, when harvesting an animal, they should always get it tested to ensure it is safe to eat. And definitely never just dump a carcass in the forest - take it to a disposal facility to prevent CWD spreading further. 

The National Wildlife Federation has produced a series of podcasts covering the impacts of CWD, discussing with leading experts to better understand the disease and how to manage possible interactions with it. Listen to it here.

Wildlife Conservation & the Ethics of Wildlife Tourism

We’ve seen in this blog how important some of the key wildlife is in our folklore, our identity, and our livelihoods. Whether we need to protect carnivores or bison, elk, and moose from ourselves or from diseases that humans have either introduced or helped proliferate, tourism and exploration have their part to play.

PETA gives us some additional guidelines for responsible tourism, involving observing animals in their habitats without interference and avoiding animal exploitation activities like circuses and roadside zoos. Always question the morality of your animal tourism interactions: are your activities organized by taking animals out of their habitat or interrupting their routines and behaviors? Are you minimizing your impact on the environment you’re visiting, avoiding going off-trail or damaging habitats? Are you harvesting animals in the most respomsible and safe way for both them and humans?

If you’re ever in doubt on any of these points, here’s a useful guide to responsible tourism:

• Research before you visit to understand the local challenges, the animal habitats, and the initiatives that offer responsible tourism activities;
• Keep a safe distance;
• Avoid flash photography and interfering with animals’ routine;
• Don’t get close to less dangerous animals - you can still cause them stress or disrupt their regular patterns;
• Do not feed animals - it will affect their own diets, can be harmful, and can lead to them becoming more aggressive towards humans in the future.

Conclusion

Ultimately, we must remember that we are all part of one community, which also includes wild animals, as John Aitchinson reflects in his piece in The Ecologist. Our relationship with wildlife needs to be seen through a prism of “belonging” vs. “owning” - when we talk about conservation and respectful wildlife tourism, the first concept is paramount. 

Additionally, we know that people are increasingly living in urban environments, losing touch with nature, all while we are seeing important wildlife species decline in numbers. Helen MacDonald says, “the rarer the animals become, the fewer meanings they can have.” This brings home how important it is, firstly, to still see and interact with wildlife as much as possible so we’re continuing to forge connections with them, and, secondly, to ensure their livelihood is preserved for future generations. 

“No one will care enough to make uncomfortable choices in favor of elephants or albatrosses unless they know enough to care about them,” MacDonald writes. That is why, at Xplorer Maps, we endeavor to make the wildlife of all the amazing places we’ve mapped an integral part of those pieces. Whether you delve into place-specific flora and fauna by perusing a national park map or simply admire one animal at a time with our unique wildlife notecards, these keepsakes are there to help remind us how important wildlife is in connecting people and place.  

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