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Pronghorn(m)

Antilocapra americana

Photo by KarenSaxton
Published on Project Noah
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40.565, -120.708

Field Notes

Description:

The only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae.[5] During the Pleistocene period, 12 antilocaprid species existed in North America, 5 of which still existed when man came to N America. Not a true antelope, but a product of niche evolution

Notes:

We saw the herd on the side of the road and stopped, staying in, or behind our vehicle and did not incite them to flight. UNfortunately, another vehicle spotted them and he was far more aggressive in his movement. So intent on following them, he pulled out in front of traffic and we were all almost part of a massive accident. He didn't seem to learn his lesson as he kept following them up the highway. I will post pictures of the rest of the herd in another spotting

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (19)
KarenSaxton
Thank you all for the congratulations! Such an honor :)
beaker98
Lovely shot! Congrats on SOTD!
Leonardo Castro
Wow! Very interesting! Looks like some African species, but the format of his horn is very peculiar. Great work. Congratulations for the spotting of the day! Keep posting...
KarenSaxton
This is about 3 hours from Reno. We camped nearby on the return trip and doubled back to see if we could get a second spotting. We did, but they were further from the road and very skittish. Then we saw another herd about an hour north
HemaShah
congrats Karen!!. How far were you away from Reno?
KarenSaxton
Thank you so much. This means a lot to me! The spotting blew me away to be honest. I wasn't looking for pronghorns. Didn't realize they were on our route(however, I"d added them to my mental wishlist recently). Made my husband stop on our trip to Reno and pull off the highway
KarenL
Congratulations Karen, your encounter with this iconic American species has been chosen spotting of the day! Closely resembling an antelope, the North American pronghorn is an example of convergent evolution. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153222779725603&set=a.10152383557885603.943728.10150120463815603&type=1 https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/376901955102076929
KarenSaxton
I'm going to put up his harem shortly. This was open grassland/scrub
KathleenMcEachern
Karen, this is really cool. I have only seen them on the prairies. Great photos!!
KarenSaxton
Thank you, Carol! He was magnificent! I never expected to see one so close to home

Spotted for Missions

Mission
National Geographic's Great Nature Project
Photographed
PublishedSeptember 7, 2013

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