Pronghorn male: note horns and black on the neck |
General Information: Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), often called antelope, are deer-sized mammals with tan backs and light bellies. The rump is white, and there are two white bars across the neck. Males have black on the face and black patches on the sides of the throat. Both genders have horns, but in males, the horns are longer than the ears, while the horns of females are shorter than the ears.
Pronghorn are animals of open sagebrush plains and scrubby prairies. They occur from southern Canada all the way to northern Mexico, but they don't really occur in the dry Mojave Desert around Las Vegas. Pronghorn are common in the sagebrush flats of the Great Basin Desert to the north of Las Vegas and the open plains of Arizona to the east, but they can also be found on the northern end of the Desert National Wildlife Range. |
Pronghorn female |
Taxonomy: Order: Artiodactyla (Even-toed Hoofed Mammals); Family: Antilocapridae (pronghorn).
Breeding: Breed in their second fall (age 1.5 yrs) and give birth in the late spring. Males sometimes have harems. Females usually give birth to two young.
Diet: Vegetation; mostly browse on shrubs, but also eat grasses and forbs.
Range: Southern Canadian prairie (Great Plains) south to northern Mexico, and west to eastern Oregon, California, and Baja.
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