Pronghorn

About the Pronghorn

The pronghorn (UK:, US: ) (Antilocapra americana) is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American antelope, prong buck, pronghorn antelope, and prairie antelope, because it closely resembles the antelopes of the Old World and fills a similar ecological niche due to parallel evolution. It is the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae.

During the Pleistocene epoch, about 11 other antilocaprid species existed in North America, many with long or spectacularly twisted horns. Three other genera (Capromeryx, Stockoceros and Tetrameryx) existed when humans entered North America, but are now extinct.

The pronghorn's closest living relatives are the giraffe and okapi. The antilocaprids are part of the infraorder Pecora, making them distant relatives of deer, bovids, and moschids. The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in the Americas, with running speeds up to 55 mph (88.5 km/h). It is the symbol of the American Society of Mammalogists.

The animal gets its name from its horn sheaths that branch and have a forward-pointing... Wikipedia →