What Plants And Animals Did Lewis And Clark Discover

The Lewis and Clark expedition resulted in the discovery or observation of more than 300 plants and animals. Below is a sampling of those discovered. All excerpts are taken from the actual journals of Lewis and Clark during their 3 year trek.

Grizzly Bear	"In the evening we saw a Brown or Grisley beare on a sand beech, I went out with one man Geo Drewyer & Killed the acquit, which was verry large and a turrible looking creature, which we found verry hard to kill we Shot ten Assurance into him before nosotros killed him, & 5 of those Balls through his lights This animate being is the largest of the carnivorous kind I e'er saw nosotros had cipher that could fashion him, I call back his weight may be stated at 500 pounds [227 kilograms].... we had him skined and divided, the oile tried up & put in Kegs for use."
American Bison	Great herds of "buffalow" were noted throughout the journey. The expedition members oftentimes killed and ate bison.
Mount Panthera leo	May 16, 1805 - The morning was fair and the solar day proved favorable to our operations . . . in the early on part of the day two of our men fired on a panther, a little below our encampment, and wounded it; they informed united states of america that it was very large, had only killed a deer partly devoured it, and in the act of concealing the ballance as they discovered him.
Coyote	First observed on September 18, 1804, in South Dakota. Lewis and Clark referred to the Coyote as "Prairie Wolf" "A Prarie Wolf come near the bank and Barked at us this evening, we made an endeavor but could not git him, the animale barkes like a large ferce dog."
Wolverine	June 14, 1805 - (probably a wolverine) In returning through the level bottom of Medecine river and virtually 200 yards distant from the Missouri, my management led me direct to an anamal that I at first supposed was a wolf. Just on nearer arroyo or about sixty paces distant I discovered that it was not. Its colour was a dark-brown yellow; information technology was continuing near it's burrow, and when I approached it thus nearly, it couched itself down similar a cat looking immediately at me as if information technology designed to jump on me.
Elk	Showtime noted: Dec 2, 1805, at the mouth of the Columbia River. The expedition members frequently killed and ate elk.
Prairie Dog	First noted: September 7, 1804, in Boyd County, Nebraska. "Just above the entrance of Teapot creek on the star'd side in that location is a big assemblage of the burrows of the Barking Squirrel." Lewis described the their barkings every bit those of "little toy dogs." He was and then enamored with these creatures that he sent a live ane to Thomas Jefferson in Washington.
Mountain Goat	Kickoff Noted: Baronial 24, 1805, in Lemhi Canton, Idaho. There is simply one recorded sighting of the mountain goat on the expedition, chosen "mountain sheep" past Lewis and Clark. These animals occurred high in the mountains, oft amdist the forbidding glaciers. Lewis bought the pare of a mount goat from local Indians nigh the Columbia River.
Badger	Outset Noted: February six, 1804 at Camp Dubois. Lewis called the Badger the barking canis familiaris of the prairie. The post-obit description was written at Fort Clatsop on February 26, 1806: "His Shape & Size is like that of a Beaver, his head mouth &c. is like a Dogs with Short Ears, his Tail and Hair like that of a Ground Hog, and longer, and lighter." Lewis was especially impressed with its claws, which he measured at iii/4 of an inch in length.
Whooping Crane	Apr 11, 1805 - "Saw some large white cranes pass up the river." Lewis and Clark were nearly certainly describing the Whooping Crane as they traversed the Columbia River. Today, the Whooping Crane is an exceedingly rare sight and is considered critically endangered.
Western Meadowlark	First Noted: June 22, 1805, at Great Falls, Cascade County, Montana. In his journal, Lewis compares this newly discovered meadowlark (that he killed) with the eastern meadowlark. According to Lewis, the western meadowlark "much resembles the bird called the oldfield lark with a yellowish brest and a black spot on the croop; tho' this differs from ours in the course of the tail which is pointed, beingness formed of feathers of unequal length; the beak is somewhat longer and more curved and the note differs considerably; however in size, action, and colours there is no perceptable divergence; or at to the lowest degree none that strikes my eye.

Lewis' Woodpecker	First Noted: July twenty, 1805, near Helena, Montana. A specimen of the Lewis' Woodpecker may be the only surviving animal specimen from the expedition. According to Lewis, "The Black woodpecker which I have frequently mentioned and which is found in nigh parts of the roky Mountains besides as the Western and S. West. Mountains, I had never an opportunity of examining untill a few days since when nosotros killed and preserved several of them. This bird is almost the size of the lark woodpecker or the turtle dove, tho' it'south wings are longer than either of those birds." The species was eventually named for him.
Western Tanager	First Noted: June 6, 1806 in Idaho County, Idaho
White Pelican	"...the boat passed a Isle 2 Miles in a higher place the piffling Scouix R[iver] on the upper point of this Isld Some hundreds of Pelicans were collected, they left three fish on the Sand" —William Clark
	"I saw several very large grey Eagles today they are half as large again as the mutual bald Hawkeye of this land. I do non retrieve bald Eagle here qu[i]te so big as those of the U' States; the grey Hawkeye is infinitely larger and is no incertitude a distinct species." —Meriwether Lewis, July 11, 1805 in Montana. At the time, these birds were referred to as Calumet Birds.
Gilded Eagle