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Animals Discovered by Lewis and Clark
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One of the jobs of the Corps of Discovery was to describe the plants and animals that they found on their journey. Many Americans, including President Thomas Jefferson, were eager to learn about the wildlife in the Louisiana Territory. They were not disappointed––the journals of Lewis and Clark describe an amazing natural world.
Lewis and Clark's journals contain descriptions of 178 different plants and 122 animals that were new to the Americans living in the East. People were fascinated to learn about grizzly bears, prairie dogs, passenger pigeons, bison, pronghorn antelope, the California condor, bighorn sheep, and many more animals. Lewis and Clark also brought back numerous specimens of these new species, many of which were sent to the American Philosophical Society.
One poignant description in Lewis's journal tells about an experience when he peered over a ridge and was awed by the sight of what appeared to be a herd of 10,000 buffalo. He reported that the ground shook with the power of their hooves.
On another occasion, the Expedition discovered a colony of prairie dogs. Determined to capture one, they struggled to flood it out of its hole. Not realizing how large a prairie dog's home can be, they carried bucket after bucket of water and poured it down the burrow, only to give up in disappointment.
Lewis and Clark's Expedition often encountered dangerous animals as well. A buffalo bull charged through their camp, and was chased off by Lewis's dog, Seaman. The Corps also had encounters with several grizzly bears, sometimes having to climb into trees to escape. But the animals that Lewis and Clark referred to most were mosquitoes. During the summer on Missouri River, there were so many mosquitoes that they couldn't eat without getting a mouthful of the bugs!
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Animals Discovered by Lewis and Clark
p.56
