Pronghorn
Antilocapra americana
Pronghorns are the fastest land mammals in the Western Hemisphere, capable of maintaining 30 mph for over 20 miles.
- Scientific name
- Antilocapra americana
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Mammalia › Artiodactyla › Antilocapridae › Antilocapra
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Open prairies, sagebrush flats, and high-desert scrublands.
- Diet
- Herbivorous; primarily forbs, shrubs, and grasses, with a unique ability to digest sagebrush and cacti.
- Range
- Western United States, Southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northern Mexico
- Size
- 80-100 cm at the shoulder, weighing 35-60 kg.
- Lifespan
- 7-10 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat fragmentation due to fencing, road development, and loss of migratory corridors.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless but extremely skittish. Maintain a distance of at least 100 yards. If the animal stops feeding or stares intently, you are too close. Never attempt to feed or chase them as it causes fatal stress.
The pronghorn ( /ˈprɒŋˌhɔːrn/) ( Antilocapra americana ) is a species of artiodactyl mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the American antelope , prong buck , pronghorn antelope , prairie antelope , or simply antelope because it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and fills a similar ecological niche due to parallel evolution.
Photo: no rights reserved, CC0, via iNaturalist
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