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The Denali sled dog puppy cam is now live!

Four puppies play by a short, dog-sized white tube, and a black nose pokes out of the tube.
Can you spot all 5 of the Denali puppies in this clip? The Denali sled dog puppy cam is now live! See how to watch here. Image via National Park Service.

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The Denali sled dog puppy cam is now live!

Every spring, you can watch the new litter of sled dog puppies on a live cam set up at Denali National Park in Alaska. The 2026 live cam came online this past week, and this year it features five pups from the same litter. There are two males, Mammoth and Teton, and three females, Sequoia, Rainier and Mesa. The puppies get fed at 8:30 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. local time. Watch on the live cam here.

Why does Denali National Park have sled dogs? As the National Park Service says:

Mushing is a cultural tradition across Alaska that dates back many thousands of years. It also provides the National Park Service the most effective available means to patrol vast areas of designated wilderness during the long winter season.

Overall, there are more than 2 million acres of designated wilderness in Denali.

Denali sled dog puppy cam: Separate photos of 5 young gray-and-white puppies and a list of their names.
The 2026 Denali sled dog puppies. They were born to mom, Spark, and dad, Sire, on March 30, 2026. Image via National Park Service/ K. Karnes.

More about this year’s puppies

The 2026 puppies are named after some of the U.S. national parks. Their mom’s name is Spark and their dad’s name is Sire. And the Denali pups are Alaskan huskies. They will grow up to be between 60 and 90 pounds. Then the breeders will look for specific traits for them to join a sled team. The National Park Service says:

Physical traits of freight-style [Alaskan huskies] include long legs to break trail through deep snow, compact paws to resist buildup of ice between toes, and sturdy coats and puffy tails to keep warm in the depths of sub-arctic winter. In addition, it’s important that canine rangers have character traits that include tenacity, an unbridled love to pull and run as part of a team, and social skills that tolerate attention of many thousands of admirers to visit the kennels each summer.

Denali Kennels maintains a dog yard of about 30 to 50 dogs. And they will have three to five dog teams working throughout the winter. So these new pups might join a team after other dogs retire, usually around age nine. And you can apply to adopt a retired sled dog! But you must live in a cool climate.

A big, flat snowy surface and a distant dog team on it. Faraway snowy mountains and a few foreground evergreen trees.
A musher and a sled dog team cross Wonder Lake in Denali National Park. Image via Naionol Park Service/ Jacob W. Frank.

Bottom line: The Denali sled dog puppy cam is now live! Watch this year’s recruits tumble and play in Alaska at the Denali Kennels. Read more about the sled dogs here.

Read more: View from space: U.S. national parks

Read more: Feel awe over these national park timelapse videos

Posted 
May 14, 2026
 in 
Earth

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