Answer the questions. Each one tells you why. Big and Little wrote them.
Park Quiz
Question 1 of 5
Yellowstone was set aside by Congress on March 1, 1872. What did that make it?
President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act on March 1, 1872. No country had ever done this before, so Yellowstone is the world's first national park. The law said the land was set aside for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.
The middle of Yellowstone sits inside a giant bowl left by a volcano. What is that bowl called?
A caldera forms when a volcano empties its magma chamber and the ground above it collapses. Yellowstone's newest caldera formed 631,000 years ago and measures about 30 by 45 miles. The heat comes from a hot spot deep in the Earth that the North American plate has been sliding over for millions of years.
Wolves were gone from Yellowstone for most of the 1900s. When were they brought back?
From 1995 to 1997, 41 wild wolves from Canada and northwest Montana were released in Yellowstone. Wolves now live all through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. About half of the wolves here have black coats and about half are gray.
Which animal has hurt more people in Yellowstone than any other animal?
Bison look slow and calm, but they have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal, and they can run three times faster than a person. The rule is to stay at least 25 yards from bison and at least 100 yards from bears and wolves.
What makes a geyser erupt instead of just sitting there like a quiet hot spring?
A hot spring lets water circulate freely, so heat escapes and the water never blows. A geyser has one or more constrictions, or squeezes, near the surface. Steam builds up behind the squeeze until the pressure lifts the water out of the vent, and the geyser erupts. Yellowstone has more than 10,000 hydrothermal features and more than 500 geysers.