The orbits (eye sockets) are prominent and sit high on the skull; there is never an antorbital pit. The teeth are hypsodont, and the dental formula is:
Males have a prominent pair of horns on the top of the head, which are made up of an outer sheath of hairlike substance that grows around a bony core; the outer sheath is shed annually. Males have a horn sheath about 12.5–43 cm (mean 25 cm) long with a prong. Females have smaller horns, ranging from 2.5–15 cm (average 12 cm), and sometimes barely visible; they are straight and very rarely pronged.
It can run exceptionally fast, being built for maximum predator evasion through running, and is generally accepted to be the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere. The top speed is very hard to measure accurately and varies between individuals; it is variously cited as up to 70 km/h, It can, however, sustain high speeds longer than cheetahs. It has a very large heart and lungs, and hollow hair. Although built for speed, it is a very poor jumper. Their ranges are often affected by sheep ranchers' fences. However, they can be seen going under fences, sometimes at high speed. For this reason the Arizona Antelope Foundation and others are in the process of removing the bottom barbed wire from the fences, and/or installing a barb-less bottom wire.
The pronghorn has been observed to have at least 13 distinct gaits, including one reaching nearly eight yards per stride. and northern Baja California Sur, to Sonora and San Luis Potosí in northern Mexico.
The subspecies known as the Sonoran Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana sonoriensis) occurs in Arizona and Mexico. The migrating pronghorn start travel from the foothills of the Pioneer Mountains through Craters of the Moon National Monument to the Continental Divide. Dr. Scott Bergen of Wildlife Conservation Society says, ""This study shows that pronghorn are the true marathoners of the American West. "With these new findings, we can confirm that Idaho supports a major overland mammal migration--something that is becoming increasingly rare in the U.S. and worldwide."
Cougars, wolves, coyotes and bobcats are the major predators. Golden Eagles have been reported to prey on fawns.
Pronghorns are now quite numerous and outnumbered people in Wyoming and parts of northern Colorado until just recently. It is legally hunted in western states for purposes of population control and food, the meat is rich and lean. There are no major range-wide threats, although localized declines are taking place, particularly to the Sonoran Pronghorn, mainly as a result of, among others, livestock grazing, the construction of roads, fences and other barriers that pose barriers to historical habitat, illegal hunting, insufficient forage and water, and lack of recruitment.
Three subspecies are considered endangered in all (A. a. sonoriensis, A. a. peninsularis), or part of their ranges (A. a. mexicana). Populations of the Sonoran Pronghorn in Arizona and Mexico are protected under the US Endangered Species Act (since 1967), and a recovery plan for this subspecies has been prepared by USFWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1998). Mexican animals are listed on CITES Appendix I. Pronghorns have game-animal status in all of the western states of the United States, and permits are required to trap or shoot pronghorns.
Category:Even-toed ungulates Category:Fauna of Mexico Category:Mammals of North America Category:Mammals of the United States Category:Megafauna of North America Category:Monotypic mammal genera Category:Animals described in 1815
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