Yellowstone National Park

The world's first national park, combining geysers, rainbow hot springs and a golden canyon with thundering falls.

It is best known for its wildlife and for hot-spring features, especially Old Faithful, a geyser that shoots up hot water at regular times, about every 90 minutes. Well over half of the world's geysers and similar hot-water features are found here. UNESCO named Yellowstone a World Heritage Site in 1978.

A volcano underfoot

Yellowstone Lake lies partly inside the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. It has erupted with great force twice in the last two million years and is now considered dormant. The heat deep underground feeds the geysers and rainbow-coloured hot springs, and lava flows and volcanic rocks cover most of the land.

Bison, bears and wildfire

Hundreds of kinds of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians have been recorded. Grizzly bears, cougars and wolves live here, and bison and elk roam freely. The Yellowstone bison herd is the oldest and largest public herd in the United States. Forest fires happen every year, and the big fires of 1988 burned more than a third of the park.

People and protection

Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years. Many languages have names for it, such as 'land of steam' in Crow and 'boiling earth' in Nez Perce. The English name comes from the Yellowstone River. Organised exploration by outsiders began in the late 1860s. The US Army managed the park from 1886 to 1916, and in 1917 the National Park Service took over. Hundreds of historic buildings and more than a thousand Native American archaeological sites have been studied there.

On the globe

The model shows geysers, hot springs and a golden canyon with waterfalls. Look for the steam and the colourful pools.