The Extermination of the American Bison is a book by William Temple Hornaday first published in 1889 by the Government Printing Office.

[3] The book argues for the consequent necessity of protecting the small number of bison then in Yellowstone National Park.

It argues that the speed of extermination has been increased by unnecessary slaughter and the lack of legal protection of the bison population, among other things.

[2] The third part describes the Smithsonian's 1886 expedition to Montana to obtain specimens for the National Museum of Natural History before bison went extinct in North America.

[2]One contemporary writer notes that a number of scholars consider Extermination to be "the first important text of the American wildlife conservation movement".