My first encounter with the Yellowstone was way back in my undergraduate days – at least ten years before I have even put my first steps in the United States. The picture of scientists isolating samples of thermophiles from the colorful geothermal area of Yellowstone in my microbiology textbook really fascinated me. Ever since, I had a love affair with this amazing place – the first ever national park of the world. Over the years I have become more and more obsessed with the geology, animal conservation and microbiology of this unique place. Who cannot admire one of the most successful and also controversial animal conservation projects of the modern world – the restoration of gray wolves after their extinction in 1920s. These photographs are from my two trips to the park in 2012 and in 2015.
Colorful display of microbes at grand prismatic spring: The deep blue center of the spring is at ~88°C – too hot to sustain any life. The water is much colder along the periphery (~65°C) and can support the growth of Cyanobacteria (Synechococcus sp), which accumulates the bright yellow beta-carotene pigments. I had to climb a steep hill to take this photo, which was off the trail and in strict sense illegal in terms of the national park service rule.
Most faithful geyser and our galaxy: Old faithful erupts every ~90 minutes. The water seeps in the underground aquifers and gets heated up by the volcanic heat – steam pressure builds up and that pushes the water out with great force. I had to wait there in the middle of a cold freezing night to take this shot with a pack of Coyote howling very close to me.
A recovered wolf from Yellowstone: Gray wolves were extinct from Yellowstone in early 1900. In 1995 they were reintroduced into the park and presently they are doing very well making it one of the most successful animal conservation projects in the world. I could not take a photograph of a wild wolf, as they are extremely difficult to spot – and had to satisfy myself by seeing some wolves in an adjacent animal recovery area.
If you want to learn more about this fascinating place, there are few great documentaries available in the Internet.
“Yellowstone TV series” by BBC
“Christmas in Yellowstone” by PBS
“Yellowstone – the world’s first national park” by National Geographic Channel
[Disclaimer: I am a molecular biologist by profession and an avid traveller by passion. I know this is not a travel blog but could not resist myself posting some photographs about this nature’s laboratory]
About our photoartist: Arnab is a Post-doctoral fellow at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland, OH. He is doing his current research on signaling pathways involved in the cancer progression after completing his PhD from Microbiology and Cell Biology Department of IISc, Bangalore. He is a molecular biologist by profession and an avid traveller by passion. His hobbies include hiking, kayaking and occasional photography trips to the wilderness.
Mail id: arnab.china@gmail.com
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/arnab-china/
This work by ClubSciWri is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
