Facts about Prairies

1. 07

   During the Pleistocene epoch, mammoth and mastodon herds roamed North American prairies alongside camels, horses, and ground sloths before megafauna extinctions 13,000 years ago.

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2. 06

   Tallgrass prairie soil contains up to 3,000 pounds of organic matter per acre, storing more carbon than forests of similar size.

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3. 05

   Prairie dog colonies in the Great Plains once covered an estimated 100 million acres across North America, with some individual towns spanning up to 25,000 square miles.

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4. 04

   Over 3,500 plant species evolved to thrive in North American prairie ecosystems, with many developing deep root systems extending 12 feet underground to survive droughts.

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5. 03

   Prescribed burns conducted by land managers remove accumulated dead plant material from prairies, with fire naturally occurring every 3 to 5 years historically to maintain grassland health.

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6. 02

   Bison herds numbering 30 to 60 million once dominated North American prairies, with a single herd spanning up to 1,500 miles during migration.

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7. 01

   The tallgrass prairies of North America once covered approximately 170 million acres before European settlement reduced them by 99 percent.

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