# What is the best animal to see in the wild in the United States?

> Worth planning a trip around, or worth pulling the car over for. Some of these were nearly gone within living memory.

*By YPB Team · Published August 27, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-animal-to-see-in-the-wild-in-the-united-states*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **American Bison** — score 1000/1000
   Reduced to a few hundred by 1889, now the national mammal and back on the plains.
2. **Grizzly Bear** — score 882/1000
   Yellowstone and Glacier hold the last large populations in the lower 48.
3. **Roseate Spoonbill** — score 764/1000
   A pink wading bird nearly wiped out by the feather trade, now back in the Gulf states.
4. **Humpback Whale** — score 681/1000
   Breaches off both coasts, and feeds cooperatively in Alaskan waters all summer.
5. **American Alligator** — score 529/1000
   Delisted in 1987 and now common enough to appear on Florida golf courses.
6. **Pronghorn** — score 529/1000
   The fastest land animal in the western hemisphere, built to outrun a cheetah that is extinct.
7. **California Condor** — score 448/1000
   Every wild bird alive descends from the 22 individuals taken into captivity in 1987.
8. **Sea Otter** — score 448/1000
   Rafts of them float in California and Alaskan kelp, holding paws while asleep.
9. **Cougar** — score 448/1000
   The most widespread large cat in the Americas, and almost never seen on purpose.
10. **Moose** — score 353/1000
   The largest deer alive, and the animal most likely to make a Maine road trip memorable.
11. **West Indian Manatee** — score 353/1000
   Gathers by the hundred in Florida's warm springs each winter.
12. **Bald Eagle** — score 241/1000
   Now nesting in every state but Hawaii, after coming back from 487 breeding pairs.
13. **Gray Wolf** — score 240/1000
   Reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 and audible across the Lamar Valley at dusk.
14. **Bighorn Sheep** — score 240/1000
   Rams collide at speed on desert and mountain slopes through the autumn rut.
15. **Elk** — score 106/1000
   Bugling bulls draw crowds to Rocky Mountain and Great Smoky Mountains each autumn.

Tags: nature, usa, animals