As Daniel Herman noted (and Steinberg will describe), the European arrivals would marvel at the millions of ____________ that lived in the woodlands and migrated through the eastern part of the continent. These animals would be deemed an amazing source of food but then a pest to the enlarging agricultural complex of the United States. Killed to fill the plates of urbanites, killed for sport and recreation, and killed as agricultural pests, the animals would eventually completely disappear from the earth.

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question presents a passage describing a species observed by European arrivals who would marvel at a vast population that later faced extinction due to human activity. We will evaluate each option in turn.
Option 1: Green-wing Teal. This is a species of dabbling duck that currently exists in North America and parts of Eurasia. The description in the prompt about millions living in woodlands, being hunted for food, sport, and as agricultural pests, and eventually disappearing, does not match what is known about Green-wing Teal populations or their history; teals have not undergone a mass extinction as described here, and their typical habitats are wetlands rather than expansive woodland populations that would be hunted to extinction. Therefore this option is unlikely.
Option 2: Atlantic Eiders. The term likely refers to a type of eider duck found along northern coasts. While eiders have faced hunting pressures, the specific motif of a vast woodland-dwelling population that becomes an agricultural pest and is driven to disappearance does not fit the well-documented decline story of eiders. Eiders have not been described as a major agricultural pest and their decline is not characterized by the dramatic extinction motif in the passage. Hence this option does not align well with the passage.
Option 3: Whitetail Deer. Whitetail deer are abundant in North America and were heavily hunted historically, but the narrative in the prompt emphasizes a species that lived in woodlands in massive numbers and was killed for food, sport, and to protect agriculture, culminating in total disappearance. Whitetail deer populations did decline in some regions due to overhunting and habitat loss, but they did not disappear from the earth; they remain extant and widespread. This makes the option inconsistent with the extinction scenario described.
Option 4: Passenger Pigeons. Passenger pigeons famously existed in astonishing numbers across North America, with enormous flocks described by European observers. They were hunted for food, sport, and to protect crops, and their rapid decline led to their near-complete extinction in the early 20th century. The description of millions living in the woodlands, being killed for urban consumption, sport, and agricultural concerns, and finally disappearing matches the historical fate of passenger pigeons precisely. This option best fits the passage's narrative.
Across the options, the key misconceptions to watch for include misidentifying species with similar habitats or exploitation histories but lacking the described extinction event, or attributing extinction to causes not aligned with the historical record. By contrast, the Passenger Pigeon narrative cleanly aligns with the sequence of massive populations, intense exploitation across multiple intents (food, sport, pest control), and eventual disappearance from the earth, which is a well-known case in extinction studies.
In summary, Option 4 (Passenger Pigeons) matches the extinction storyline exactly, while the other choices fail to fit the combination of woodland abundance, multiple exploitation pressures, and total disappearance described in the prompt.

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