Yosemite Sam is an
American animated cartoon character in the
Looney Tunes and
Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by
Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat
alliterative and is inspired by
Yosemite National Park. Along with
Elmer Fudd, he is the de facto
archenemy of
Bugs Bunny. He is commonly depicted as an extremely aggressive gunslinging
prospector,
outlaw,
pirate, or
cowboy with a
hair-trigger temper and an intense hatred of rabbits, Bugs particularly. In cartoons with non-Western themes, he uses various aliases, including "Chilkoot Sam" (named for the
Chilkoot Trail; Sam pronounces it "Chilli-koot") in
14 Carrot Rabbit (although in the same cartoon, when he tries to gain Bugs Bunny's trust, he cleverly invents alias "Square-deal Sam"), "Riff Raff Sam" in
Sahara Hare, "Sam Schultz" in
Big House Bunny, "Seagoin' Sam" in
Buccaneer Bunny, "Shanghai Sam" in
Mutiny on the Bunny, and "Sam Von Schamm the
Hessian" in
Bunker Hill Bunny and
many others. During the
Golden Age of American animation, Yosemite Sam appeared in 33 shorts.