Like other North American prairie ecoregions, the Northern tall grasslands once supported large herds of
bison (
Bison bison) and
elk (
Cervus canadensis), which were hunted by the
gray wolf (
Canis lupus) and coyote (
Canis latrans). All of these save for the coyote have been largely eliminated from the region, though the bison and wolf are recovering. Other, more common species in the ecoregion include
white-tailed deer (
Odocoileus virginianus),
rabbit (
Sylvilagus spp.),
ground squirrel (
Spermophilus spp.) and large populations of waterfowl. ==Conservation==