How many bison get hit by cars in Yellowstone?

The bison in Yellowstone Park are American bison of the Plains bison subspecies. Yellowstone National Park may be the only place in the United States where free-roaming bison were never extirpated because they survived in the wild and were not reintroduced.

More than 5,000 bison were roaming the park in 2021. According to data released by the National Park Service, vehicles hit and killed 76 big mammals on park roads in 2018.

Bison and mule deer were the most frequently killed species, with 25 and 20 animals killed, respectively. Yellowstone elk were also struck hard, with automobiles killing 13 of the ungulates in 2018.

Seven pronghorn, three black bears, two moose, two mountain lions, one whitetail deer, one wolf, one coyote, and a raccoon were also killed in park collisions.

Collisions were common in Yellowstone’s iconic Lamar Valley, the Tower-Roosevelt area, the section between Gardiner, Montana, and Mammoth Hot Springs, and U.S. Highway 191, which runs through the park’s northwest corner.