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Antilocapra americana
The fastest animal on the Western Hemisphere and second fastest in the world, only to the Cheetah, at 55mph. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope, or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and fills a similar ecological niche due to convergent evolution.
A species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Although built for speed, it is a very poor jumper. Their ranges are often affected by sheep ranchers' fences. However, they can be seen going under fences, sometimes at high speed. For this reason the Arizona Antelope Foundation and others are in the process of removing the bottom barbed wire from the fences, and/or installing a barb-less bottom wire.
Like something out of Africa, I was dying to see this animal from the very first time I knew they were here. I gave up all hope trying to find one and forgot all about it until we were on our way back and it crossed right in front of us in the road! Sadly, this fence in its way has disturbed its migration habits and pronghorn, for some reason, do not jump fences. The last picture is a small herd we saw down the road a ways. I'm thinking it probably belongs to that herd.
Spotted on Feb 27, 2013
Submitted on Mar 7, 2013
9 Comments
Thank you Yuko! I love hearing about animals for the first time :)
Such beautiful animals! I'd never heard of pronghorns until now, so thanks for sharing!
Haha, it's true! Colorado is the wild west for sure! Glad you finally got to see these guys, they are one of my favorites!
Thanks Env and Emily! They go all the way ouy to Oregon too. It might have actually been oregon not sure we were right on the state line. That's awesome you get to see them all the time. seems like where you live is teaming with megafauna :)
RAD! I love pronghorn! I didn't realize they migrated as far west as Cali! I thought they were a plains/WY/CO/UT deal! Very cool! I see them up north all the time. Congrats on the spotting! They blend in incredibly well don't they!
I was just thinking the same thing ;p You're welcome!
That's fascinating! And brilliant! I imagine them doing something like the limbo!! ;-) Thanks for the info!
Thank you Christy! That was confusing to me too. I looked up some more info. This should help :) "Although built for speed, it is a very poor jumper. Their ranges are often affected by sheep ranchers' fences. However, they can be seen going under fences, sometimes at high speed. For this reason the Arizona Antelope Foundation and others are in the process of removing the bottom barbed wire from the fences, and/or installing a barb-less bottom wire." -Wiki
Fantastic series, Joshua! I'm surprised they don't jump...maybe the ranchers should put corridors within their fencing...but then maybe the cows would get out...which would be better I wonder...