Searching for animal encounters in the USA? Some of the best places to see animals in this country are national parks, from Yellowstone to the Everglades.
But there are also a bunch of zoos, nature centers, and sanctuaries that offer up-close animal encounters where you can touch or interact with wild critters like chimpanzees, giraffes, penguins, and more.
And a number of drive-thru safaris have popped up, allowing visitors to stay in their cars as they drive slowly through a re-created African habitat and witness zebras, ostriches, and giraffes up close.
In this article, we’ll go over some of the best wildlife ranches, sanctuaries, zoos, and drive-thru safaris that offer wildlife encounters in the U.S.
Then, we’ll look at the best national parks to see all kinds of wildlife, from bears to alligators to wolves.
Finally, we’ll relate some additional places where you can reliably see animals in the wild, from the bridge bats of Austin to the white squirrels of Olney, Illinois.
Animal Encounters in the U.S.: Ranches, Safaris, Sanctuaries, and Zoos
In order to guarantee yourself a chance to see animals, you’ll want to go to an establishment such as a sanctuary that cares for animals and allows the public to visit.
Here’s our list of some of the best places like this in the United States.
Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch (San Antonio)
The Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch is a drive-thru safari atmosphere. It’s one of the coolest places I’ve ever gone to see wild animals.
The ranch offers a “private VIP experience” with giraffes or rhinos. Or just drive through the grounds and watch the animals on the side of the road.
Guests are given a bag of food as they enter, which they may use to feed animals. That entices ostriches, zebras, and other large creatures to come right up to your window.
Don’t be surprised if an ostrich pokes its head inside your vehicle!
National Aviary (Pittsburgh)
Pittsburgh’s National Aviary has one of the largest collections of birds you can find anywhere. In three of the rooms, the birds fly around freely over your head as you walk around.
One of the best things about the aviary is the large number of private animal encounters it offers.
For an extra fee, you can get up close with a penguin encounter, falcon encounter, or owl encounter. They even offer a sloth encounter in which the animals create a painting for you!
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
The iconic San Diego Zoo is worth visiting to see dozens of species from around the world.
The zoo has special offerings like the “Animals in Action” experience, which offers a chance to see wildlife such as cheetahs up close.
To see wildlife in a more natural environment, drive up to the Safari Park in Escondido. It’s also run by the San Diego Zoo.
Here, the animals have much more space to spread out and live as normally as possible. Walk the grounds on your own and take a guided tour.
Chimp Haven (Louisiana)
The world’s largest chimpanzee sanctuary can be found in the forests of northern Louisiana at Chimp Haven.
More than 300 former lab animals are given space to live in a semi-natural environment with minimal human interference.
Chimp Haven is not open daily for visitors, but it does hold Chimpanzee Discovery Days twice a year.
Guests are invited into the sanctuary to observe the animals and participate in themed activities and educational programs.
The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (Palm Desert, CA)
Sign up for a giraffe feeding or a rhino encounter at the Living Desert Zoo, located just outside Palm Springs.
It’s one of the best places in southern California to see African safari animals, plus Australian wildlife like kangaroos, emus, and kookaburra.
The Living Desert Zoo participates in more than 800 wildlife conservation efforts to protect endangered species, support natural habitat restoration, and fight wildlife trafficking.
Georgia Aquarium (Atlanta)
The famous Georgia Aquarium is the only place in the U.S. to see massive whale sharks in a tank.
They built a see-through tunnel under the tank, so you can look up and see fish of all kinds swimming past.
They also have an aquatic petting zoo where you can touch small sharks and rays as they swim past! And there’s a separate touch pool with starfish and anemones.
Brookfield Zoo (Chicago)
The Brookfield Zoo is a spacious facility in the Chicago suburbs that has wide-open areas for meerkats, bison, tortoises, rhinos, and Mexican gray wolves to roam.
Seeking an up close animal encounter? The zoo has a series of “Wild Connections” experiences. You can feed flamingos, sharks, penguins, and giraffes, or get up close with otters, porcupines, sloths, and macaws.
Indianapolis Zoo
You may not immediately think of the Indianapolis Zoo when it comes to animal encounters in the U.S., but this facility actually has a robust encounter program.
The zoo has a dolphin meet & greet, sloth and aardvark adventures, and a cockatoo meet & greet (you can hold it in your hand!)
They used to offer elephant painting, but that has been replaced with elephant bathing. Yes, you can actually scrub down an African elephant!
The Best National Parks for Wild Animal Encounters
If sanctuaries and zoos aren’t your thing, head into the wild for real animal encounters. Seeking a specific animal? These are the U.S. national parks that offer the best chance to see each particular creature.
Grizzly Bears: Grand Teton / Yellowstone
The infamous grizzly bear only lives in three national parks in the lower 48 states: Glacier, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone. The latter two present the best opportunity for seeing them in person.
Grand Teton is home to the most famous bear in the world. Named 399, she’s 28 years old, and attracts onlookers every year when she emerges with her cubs. Follow her whereabouts in the Team 399 Facebook group.
Yellowstone, meanwhile, has several spots that bears frequent, including Lamar Valley, Hayden Valley, and the Mount Washburn area, though seeing them is always a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Brown Bears: Katmai
Brown bears are almost the same as grizzlies. Grizzlies are technically a subspecies of brown bear. The obvious place to see brown bears is Katmai National Park in Alaska.
A massive population of brown bears lives near Brooks Falls. They gather when the salmon swim upstream, and visitors can watch from nearby viewing decks to see the bears catching fish just feet away.
Black Bears: Great Smoky Mountains
Lots of parks have black bears. They live in more than half of the 48 lower states, after all. According to the NPS, the Smokies have nearly 2000 black bears, which works out to be about two per square mile!
That doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily see one, of course. They prefer to avoid people and busy streets, so hiking into the backcountry increases your odds of encountering one.
Bighorn Sheep: Rocky Mountain
The bighorn sheep in Rocky Mountain NP often come down and cross the road to get to some of their favorite lakes.
They’re called Sheep Lakes, conveniently enough. Even if the bighorns aren’t crossing the road, you may be able to see them up on the hill above the lakes.
Glacier National Park in Montana also has a lot of bighorns, especially around Logan Pass.
Mountain Goats: Glacier
We’re at Glacier NP again for mountain goats. Hidden Lake Trail is probably the best place in the country to reliably see goats. Dozens of mountain goats live in this general vicinity.
The first time I hiked this trail, I disappointingly didn’t see any goats. They were away that day. But the next time I hiked it, I saw more than 20 goats, some walking just feet away from me, right on the trail.
Honorable mention goes to Rainier National Park, which has a lot of goats as well, often around the trails on the Sunrise section of the park.
Wild Horses: Roosevelt
Yes, wild horses are a thing. Only a few places in the country still have horses that roam free in the wild. North Dakota’s Roosevelt National Park is one such place.
The park has a few herds of horses, and they can often be seen while driving around the main park road.
Alligators: Everglades
Of course, the swampy Everglades in Florida have the most alligators of any national park.
There are so many that you’re almost guaranteed to see one if you visit the Anhinga Trail and hang out for any length of time.
Often the gators are just a few feet away, but there’s no danger as long as you stay on the boardwalk.
Bison: Yellowstone
Yellowstone has some of the most spectacular wildlife in the world. From grizzly bears to badgers to lynx to moose, the park is perfect for animal lovers.
The park may be best known for the thousands of bison that wander around its grasslands. These beasts often cross the main roads, forcing traffic to pause while the animals take their time moving away.
Wolves: Yellowstone
More than 100 wolves live in Yellowstone. They were re-introduced in the park in the 1990s, having been eliminated from the park decades earlier by hunters.
The wolf packs all claim distinct areas, and it’s actually fairly easy to spot wolves if you visit the Lamar Valley at sunrise or dusk and bring binoculars.
Just stop wherever you see a large group of people gathered with scopes looking into the distance!
Elk: Redwood
When you head to California’s Redwood National Park to see the giant, ancient trees, keep your eyes open for herds of elk that tend to wander around near Route 101.
Other parks that offer good elk-watching opportunities include Olympic, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, and Grand Teton.
Moose: Isle Royale
Located on an island in the Great Lakes in northern Michigan, Isle Royale has its own unique environment. There are no large predators here. No bears, and virtually no wolves.
That means the moose can thrive on the island’s lakes and in its forests. The park currently has more than 2000 moose. I was fortunate to see one running right past my tent as I camped!
Prairie Dogs: Badlands
Badlands and Roosevelt National Parks are among the places where you can easily see prairie dogs.
These cute little critters live in underground villages, popping above ground to search for food and warn their friends about danger.
In the Badlands, there are so many prairie dogs that you have to watch your step while hiking, lest you step into a prairie dog hole and roll your ankle!
Coyotes: Death Valley
Coyotes are such adaptable animals that they can live almost anywhere, from forests to deserts to the middle of urban cities.
Seeing coyotes is usually a crapshoot, as there aren’t many reliable coyote-watching spots. Many national parks are good for coyote watching, including Yellowstone, Roosevelt, and Death Valley.
In Death Valley, the animals have adapted to the dry conditions. Look for them in the distance on the long, flat areas of the park.
Deer: Great Smoky Mountains
Like coyotes, deer live just about everywhere. But at the same time, they’re unpredictable, so most sightings happen by chance.
That said, the Smoky Mountains have a large population of white-tailed deer. If you’re not lucky enough to see one from your car, head to Cades Cove, a wide-open field where they are often spotted.
Foxes: Channel Islands
The Channel Islands off the coast of Los Angeles have some of the cutest foxes you will ever see. The island fox is tiny, basically the size of a housecat.
The foxes roams the islands and aren’t particularly bothered by humans, so you will almost certainly see them during a day visit or an overnight camping stay.
Badgers: Yellowstone
Badgers are little mammals with striped faces. They live all over the western half of the country, though they’re not commonly seen.
One place they thrive is in Yellowstone’s wildlife-rich Lamar Valley. Hikers on the Lamar River Trail see badgers all the time.
Marmots: Rainier
The marmot is another adorable creature that a lot of folks don’t get to see regularly, because they tend to live on high-altitude mountain areas.
That makes Rainier and Rocky Mountain the best national parks for viewing them.
At Rainier NP, hikers encounter marmots all the time while walking the park’s most popular trails, such as the Skyline Trail. They just run around, gleefully munching on wildflowers, even when people are nearby.
Wolverines: Rainier
Wolverines are extraordinarily rare outside of Alaska. It’s believed there are only a few hundred in the lower 48 states.
Two parks where they have been spotted recently are Rainier in Washington and Glacier in Montana. The animals just migrated to Rainier recently, after decades of absence.
We have a running list of where wolverines have been seen in Rainier NP. Sightings are still infrequent, but every summer, a handful of hikers get lucky and have a chance encounter.
Bald Eagles: Voyageurs
Once endangered, bald eagles have made a great comeback and can be seen around the country. Voyageurs NP in Minnesota is still the best place to see them.
The eagles soar above the park’s many lakes, looking for fish. I saw 10 bald eagles during a single ferry ride through the park!
Mountain Lions: Guadalupe Mountains
They say the mountain lion (cougar) is one animal you never want to see, because they are dangerous, and most of the time, they stay hidden and avoid human contact.
These animals live all over the country, but Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas is one place where are reliably known to live.
The hiking trails there all have signs reminded folks they are in mountain lion country, and advising them not to hike alone.
California Condors: Grand Canyon
The California condor is a rare bird that has been steadily growing in population after nearly going extinct.
Currently, there are more than 300 condors in the wild. The Grand Canyon, Zion, and Pinnacles all have condor populations that visitors can sometimes encounter.
At the Grand Canyon, as much as you’ll want to keep peering down into the canyon, take some time to look up, just in case one of the massive birds may be soaring above the canyon.
Bats: Carlsbad Caverns
Most people aren’t searching for wild encounters with bats. But Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico is an exception, because of its nightly bat show.
Each evening during the summer, hundreds of bats emerge from the cave to go out in search of their nightly fill of insects. You can sit and watch them from the viewing area.
Whales and Orcas: Kenai Fjords
Alaska’s Kenai Fjords is home to impressive glaciers and fascinating marine wildlife. Porpoises, humpback whales, and orcas are among the incredible creatures you may see on a day cruise in the park.
This is one of the easier wildlife-spotting opportunities on this list, because the ship captain and other passengers on the boat are always looking for wildlife, and they will happily announce when they see something. You just have to be ready with your camera.
10 More Places to See Animals in the Wild in the United States
Bridge bats of Austin: Like Carlsbad Caverns, the city of Austin, Texas has a bat-viewing spot. They live under a bridge right in the city, and people gather to watch them fly out each night.
White squirrels of Olney: The small town of Olney, Illinois has a decent-sized population of white squirrels living among the gray ones. It’s cool to see a white squirrel in the wild!
La Jolla sea lions: Children’s Pool and some other nearby beaches in La Jolla, California have been taken over by sea lions, which lounge around on the sand.
Ziplining over alligators: Ready for a double-dose of adrenaline? How about ziplining over a pool of alligators? Louisiana has a few places where you can try out this thrilling activity.
Sharks in Oahu: Many places in Hawaii offer shark-watching tours. Oahu is one of the locations where you can take a short ride into the ocean, hop into a cage in the water, and observe Greeland sharks swimming around.
Begging Burros in Custer State Park: Heading to Mount Rushmore? Visit nearby Custer State Park to see tons of bison and a population of “begging burros” who like to be fed crackers from car windows.
Snorkeling in Dry Tortugas: Some of the most exotic fish you will see live in the waters of Dry Tortugas National Park, located west of the Florida Keys.
Manatees in Florida: Blue Spring State Park north of Orlando is one of the best places to see manatees swimming in the wild. These gentle creatures gather here from November to March, since they need warmer waters to make it through winter.
Dall sheep in Denali: Alaska’s Denali National Park has a group of Dall sheep, which look like white bighorns. Look for them on mountain peaks and hillsides.
Vultures in Everglades: The Everglades have black vultures that sometimes “attack” vehicles. They love to chew on the rubber windshield wipers.
What are your favorite wildlife experiences and animal encounters in the USA? Do you have any favorite places to see animals?
