Tens of millions of bison once thundered across the plains. By 1900, almost none were left. Today America's national mammal is back — and the quiz proves it.
Huge wild herds of bison once roamed the Great Plains, and Plains Nations built ways of life around them. In the late 1800s, hunting nearly wiped bison out.
Basis: U.S. history — taught in school; the near-extinction of the bison is established history.
Ranchers, tribes and parks brought bison back from just a few hundred survivors. Today the farm-and-ranch count alone is in the hundreds of thousands (see the quiz), led by South Dakota in a photo finish with Nebraska.
Basis: USDA Census of Agriculture (this site's quiz) and documented conservation history.
In 2016 the bison became the official national mammal of the United States.
Basis: National Bison Legacy Act of 2016.
Why do the Dakotas and Nebraska lead? Wide grasslands and ranching traditions fit bison well — and tourism and restaurant demand for bison meat likely help. The exact mix is hard to measure.
※ A hypothesis is an idea that isn't proven yet.
📊 Sources for the rankings mentioned in this note (links to the original data and retrieval dates) are on each quiz page below.