# Pronghorn

*Antilocapra americana*

Pronghorns are the fastest land mammals in the Western Hemisphere, capable of maintaining 30 mph for over 20 miles.

- **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.

## About

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.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/45b321a7-7425-46ca-a46b-f6f25f3a455d
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/42429
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antilocapra americana
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/268596217/medium.jpeg (no rights reserved, CC0, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.