Pronghorn

Lewis and Clark made several other observations on the behavior of the pronghorn and how the local tribes hunted them. They described the animal, which they referred to as the "Antelope" or the "Goat".

Pronghorns have distinct light orange and white fur on their rumps, sides, breasts, bellies, and across their throats. The feet have two hooves, with no dewclaws. Their body temperature is 38 °C (100 °F). Each horn of the pronghorn is composed of a slender, laterally flattened blade of bone which is thought to grow from the frontal bones of the skull, or from the subcutaneous tissues of the scalp, forming a permanent core. Both sexes sport impressive, backward-curving horns. The horns split to form forward-pointing prongs that give the species its name. Some animals have horns that are more than a foot long. As in the Giraffidae, skin covers the bony cores, but in the pronghorn, it develops into a keratinous sheath which is shed and regrow annually. Unlike the horns of the family Bovidae, the horn sheaths of the pronghorn are branched, each sheath having a forward-pointing tine (hence the name pronghorn).

Due to evolutionary biology about the pronghorn, their speed was 98 km/h from the false cheetahs like Miracinonyx for thousands of years ago until they became extinct, until cougar cats and jaguars competed in present-day. Their legs are long and hooves are better adapted in flat areas, including some roads. Pronghorns have a distinct, musky odor. Males mark territory with a preorbital scent gland which is on the sides of the head. They also have very large eyes with a 320° field of vision.

When the pronghorn is threatened, it may attack with its sharp hooves.

Pronghorns form mixed-sex herds in the winter. In early spring, the herds break up, with young males forming bachelor groups, females forming harems, and adult males living solitarily. Some female bands share the same summer range, and bachelor male bands form between spring and fall. Females form dominance hierarchies with few circular relationships. Dominant females aggressively displace other females from feeding sites.

Adult males either defend a fixed territory that females may enter, or defend a harem of females. A pronghorn may change mating strategies depending on environmental or demographic conditions. Where precipitation is high, adult males tend to be territorial and maintain their territories with scent marking, vocalizing, and challenging intruders. In these systems, territorial males have access to better resources than bachelor males. Females also employ different mating strategies. "Sampling" females visit several males and remain with each for a short time before switching to the next male at an increasing rate as estrous approaches. "Inciting" females behave as samplers until estrous, and then incite conflicts between males, watching and then mating with the winners. The pronghorn is active in the night and in the day. It has excellent eyesight and can spot a threat up to four miles away.

In the summer, the pronghorn grazes on grasses, forbs and cactus. In the winter, the pronghorn eats sagebrush and other available plants.

Most pronghorn populations remain stable, but have experienced a historic decline. Pronghorn follow the same migration corridors year after year, generation after generation.

The pronghorn is the fastest animal in the Western Hemisphere. It can run at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and it can run long distances at speeds of 30-40 miles per hour. Pronghorn was friendly to humans except for ran away from their speed.

The present-day range of the pronghorn extends from southern Saskatchewan and Alberta in Canada south into the United States through Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, and central Texas west to coastal southern California and northern Baja California Sur, to Sonora and San Luis Potosí in northern Mexico. They have been extirpated from Iowa and Minnesota in the United States and from Manitoba in Canada. However, the pockets of the herd of pronghorns found in Lanai Islands in Hawaii by the introduction for breeding. An inhabitant of grasslands, sagebrush plains, deserts, and foothills; avoiding closed habitats with limited lines of sight for the food sources and breeding area.

• Movement Pattern: Full Migrant

• Individual Type: Solo/Group

• Population Trend: Stable

• Population: 750,000

• Locomotion: Terrestrial

• Habitat: All

• Earth: 

  • Extant (Resident): Canada; Mexico; United States

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• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronghorn

• https://quotestats.com/topic/pronghorn-quotes/

• https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/1677/115056938

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/pronghorn

• https://nhpbs.org/natureworks/pronghorn.htm

• https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/pronghorn

• https://www.nwf.org/educational-resources/wildlife-guide/mammals/pronghorn

• https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Pronghorn-918745965