COMMON NAME: Pronghorn
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Antilocapra americana
TYPE: Mammals
DIET: Herbivore
GROUP NAME: Herd, band
AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN CAPTIVITY: 11 years
SIZE: Head and body: 3.25 to 5 feet; tail: 3 to 4 inches
WEIGHT: 90 to 150 pounds
SIZE RELATIVE TO A 6-FT MAN
Small, relentless and fast. Those are the three best words to describe the pronghorn antelope. Not many know of this North American speedstar but this antelope can outrun most of the predators. In fact, if all land animals had a 100m sprint all starting at the same time the pronghorn antelope will only come second to the cheetah.
Appearance
The pronghorn antelopes name comes from its two distinct horns on the top of their heads. The horns are branched with two points, made of bone, and covered with a keratinous casing which is shed and regrown annually. Both sexes bear horns. Those of the male are longer, the longer curves backward and the shorter projects forward. Pronghorn bucks shed their horns in October after the mating season. The horns grow during winter and are fully grown just before the territorial contests of the bucks in spring. These animals measure four to five feet long from nose to tail, and are approximately three and a half feet tall. The females weigh around 75-110 pounds (34-45 kg), while the males weigh 90-140 pounds (40- 63kg). They are reddish-brown in color and have a white stomach, behind, throat, and parts of the facial area are also white.
Diet
Like other even-toed hoofed animals, pronghorns chew cud—their own partially digested food. The meal of choice for this speedy herbivore is generally grass, sagebrush, and other vegetation.
Breeding
Breeding season for pronghorn is in mid-September. Bucks gather harems of females and protect them from other male pronghorns. Many times, they get into battles with each other over the female pronghorn. Gestations period of a pronghorn is typically 235 days. In the spring, the females give birth to one or two fawns. They stay hidden in the vegetation for about 25 days, until they join a “nursery” with other fawns and mothers. Sexually maturity is reached at 15 months but males do not breed until the age of three. The lifespan of a pronghorn in the wild is 10-15 years.
Speed take
Capable of reaching speeds exceeding 70 kilometers per hour, the pronghorn is one of the fastest mammals on earth. No large North American carnivore can match it for speed yet every year many pronghorn fall prey to a canid more often considered a pest than a consummate hunter. Wolves, cougars, bears, and even eagles all prey upon pronghorn from time to time, but it is the coyote that kills more individuals than any other, especially in the northern range of Yellowstone National Park.
Threats
Pronghorn follow the same migration corridors year after year, generation after generation. Today, the thoroughfares that link the summer breeding grounds and winter grazing areas are being fragmented by roads, cities, fences and energy development. These fragmentations threaten the migratory routes and survival of pronghorn.
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