Pronghorns 

    The pronghorn  is found only on the Great Plains. It is often called an antelope and  can run up to 60 miles per hour. A pronghorn uses its sharp vision to see danger. Its speed helps it outrun wolves and human hunters. It can raise the white hair patch on its rump to let the herd know of trouble. Lewis and Clark first saw antelope a few miles below the Niobrara River. The men thought they were as fast as birds.

 

Pronghorns
Photo courtesy of South Dakota Department of Tourism

     " We found the antelope extremely shy and watchful. . . they are watchful and extremely quick of sight and their sense of smelling very acute . . . the agility and superior fleetness of this animal was to me really astonishing."—Lewis’s journal, September 17, 1804

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