CLEP US History II

Answer: D - As American settlers from the East moved into western territories, they hunted bison to the brink of extinction, primarily for their pelts. Bands of settlers were notorious for killing entire herds of bison, only to skin them and leave their flesh rotting in the sun. This behavior was an affront to the Plains Indian tribes, who valued the animal highly and had a cultural devotion to killing as few bison as necessary. Prior to the arrival of white settlers, there were millions of bison on the prairies, but after decades of commercial hunting in the mid- to late-19th century, when as many as 10,000 bison might be killed per day, the population ultimately dwindled to little more than 500. Conservation efforts to restore the species saved it from extinction-it is no longer even an endangered species-but it has never returned to its pre-Westward expansion plurality.