Grizzly bears are ju.st one of many wild animals you'll find in Waterton, Alberta

Experience the Animal Kingdom’s Wild Side in Waterton, Alberta, Canada

WATERTON LAKES NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA – Canada. In Waterton Lakes National Park, your best bets for seeing, watching and photographing wildlife are in and around the Waterton townsite, and along the park Entrance Road, the Akamina Parkway and the Red Rock Parkway.

The park’s variety of vegetation communities provides homes for many animals, including more than 60 species of mammals, over 250 species of birds, 24 species of fish, and 10 reptiles and amphibians. Large predators include wolf, coyote, cougar, grizzly bear, and American black bear. The grasslands are important winter range for ungulates such as elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer.

The park supports a small population of mountain lions, however, sightings of these wily cats are extremely rare. A much larger and more viable population of cougars lives to the south of the park in Kananaskis Country and at Glacier National Park.

Elk Season at Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada

Waterton has a robust elk population numbering in the thousands. The Vermilion Lakes Drive, the Buffalo Paddock, the Banff Springs golf course and the Bow Valley Parkway are all excellent venues for seeing and photographing elk, and the town of Banff itself is frequented by elk intent on eating the greenery in local’s yards and escaping the predators they would face anywhere else in the park.

Wild Elk at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada

Surprisingly, there are more grizzly bears in Banff than black bears. Grizzly researchers working on the Rocky Mountains East Slope Grizzly Project estimate that the park is home to about 70 of the great bears.  While sightings of grizzlies are rare, you may spot them in the backcountry or along the Bow Valley Parkway or the Icefields Parkway.

You’re in close proximity to Glacier National Park, Alberta as well.