The pronghorn antelope

The pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana) is both graceful and very powerful. The class of this antelope is Mammalia, order is Artiodactyla and family is Antilocapridae. This animal is one of the fastest runners in the world, can run long distances and is a sprinter. It can obtain fifty miles per hour on a short run and on long runs can run thirty miles per hour. This antelope has a remarkable degree of speed and stamina. It has a coat of reddish-brown and white and the body of just an average antelope with the rump being about four inches higher than the shoulder. The legs are very strong and slender with pointed hooves. The tail is short. The male is two-pronged in horns that will lose their outer sheath and are regrown yearly. The length of the horns is ten inches but they do vary even up to twenty inches.

The female has shorter unbranched horns. Her ears are delicate and long and eyes are two inches in diameter. Her color is reddish-brown and she has a black mane. She has circles of hair around the base of the horns. Her neck is white as well as her lower parts, inner side of legs, rump and some markings on her head. Males weigh about one hundred fifty-five pounds while female weigh about one hundred fifteen pounds. The length of life is around fifteen years. They bare an anatomical resemblance to the artiodactyls, Cervidae, giraffidae and the Bovidae.

The pronghorn is from the North American family of Antilocapridae that has been around for millions of years but only in North America. It has common features of the giraffes, antelopes and the deer. The prong like horns are the most prominent on his body as they seem to come from above the eyebrows. Each of these two horns will rise straight up from the forehead and divide so that one tip will project forward and the other will project to the ear with an inward tip. As they are branched one would think of the deer antlers seeing them so branches. The antlers are the same as cattle in that they are composed of a boney core in a horn sheath. They do not shed the antlers complete, only the outer sheath. The new sheath will develop under the old one and then split open in about four months. The horns are just beginning to sprout when they are bor. By the time they are seven months old the first protective sheath will have been shed and the horns will be a few inches long. Males shed horns before females after breeding.

The pronghorn has individual mobile hairs that can be moved and directed as they wish due to special muscles. They can let the hairs lay flat or even various angles. When the hairs are raised they produce a cooling to allow heat loss or they can be compressed for warmth. During movement the hairs adjust. There are patches of white hairs on the rumps that can be raised or lowered thus producing light flashes across a distance. This

Is an alarm system that continues from one animal to another. This is accomplished by the contraction of muscles.

These antelopes are very social and live in groups. In the winter large herds will form and then break into smaller herds in the summer. There will be a few males in each group with females and younger antelope included. These single groups will roam over a distance of a few miles looking for moss, shoots, grass and food. In areas without much water they are able to graze on sagebrush and plants that will provide them with liquid nourishment. The older males from the large group of the winter and spring will go out alone and perhaps in pairs and will just stay away from the smaller formed groups. They prefer to stay in short grass as the inability to run is hindered by tall grass. By the fall these adult males return to claim the females. The male will have several females that are for mating and will watch them very closely. They have to protect this nuptial territory and it leads to mean violent fights. The herds will rejoin in a large group after breeding. The fighting will end after the breeding. They will spend their time looking for food during the winter. The animals that are the weakest will be protected by the stronger ones. They will teach the young males during this time how to survive. The next early summer they will split into groups again renewing the cycle.

The female will leave the herd after breeding. After two hundred thirty to two hundred forty days she will give birth. The first birth usually is one but then afterward she will have twins and sometimes triplets. The baby antelopes are of pearl-grey color when born and turn brown in a few months. Due to the color of the fur they are able to blend in with the area for protection from predators. The mother will leave them in an area where they will blend so that she can hunt for food. The female takes total care of the young during this period, nurses them and hunts for food. They are able to run very fast within four days of birth and will be grazing in weeks.

There are many animals that are waiting to attack the pronghorn antelope such as rattlesnakes, coyotes and wolves. The young are the most vulnerable. These antelopes have a high rate of survival as they can run so fast by outrunning their enemies very often. The rattlesnake is killed very swiftly by antelope as there is an ability to flex leg muscles, bring four hooves together, leap into the air and then

Land on the rattlesnake's head.

There are protective laws against the hunting of the pronghorn antelope in America and most of these antelopes live now in protected area. Man has done much to harm populations of animals.