Visiting a national park is one of the best ways to interact with nature—hiking, biking, boating and gazing at awe-inspiring mountains, trees and other natural features. But for some, the best part of visiting a national park is to catch a glimpse of the resident flora and fauna. Whether you’re looking for birds and beetles, ferns and flowers, marmots and moose, these national parks will give you the most wildlife bang for your buck.
Casago, a vacation rentals and property management company, crunched the numbers using the National Park Service’s Integrated Resource Management Applications (IRMA) portal to find out which national parks pack the most plant and animal punch.
Looking to see different animals while out in the parks? Congaree National Park in South Carolina comes out on top with the greatest density of wildlife species—362 animals (and 804 plant species) per 100 square kilometers. In total, it has about 385 different critters living in the rivers and towering hardwood pines. You might see a bobcat, wild pigs, opossums and river otters. While Congaree has the highest density, Biscayne in Florida has the highest number of animals, with 1,002 different wildlife species. Nearly 700 of these are fish species, making Biscayne a great spot for those who prefer to look underwater.
For lovers of winged creatures, Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico boasts 194 bird species per 100 square kilometers, the highest density. This includes cave swallows and freetail bats. Redwoods National Park in California is home to the highest number of mammals, including the dusky-footed woodrat, mink, skunk, Botta’s pocket gopher and the California vole.
The Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee have the highest number of plant species overall at 2,278. In addition to a range of flora, from lichen to moss to massive trees, the Smokies are home to around 620 animals (including, to the dismay of the snake-averse, 56 reptile species), making it America’s most biodiverse park. Experts say the park could even hide up to 100,000 unrecorded species.
If you’re looking to get up close and personal with the natural inhabitants of U.S. national parks, check out these spots rich in biodiversity. Find the full report on the Casago website.