From: ee5391aa@triton.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax)
Newsgroups: rec.backcountry
Subject: Pronghorns != Antelope
Summary: . . . and lots of folks don't know it!
Date: 25 Aug 92 16:56:52 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

Pronghorns, aka "prarie goats" and "antelope" or "American antelope" are off in
an entire family all to themselves, Antilocapridae.  Of the several genera of
critters dubbed "antelope", all others are bovids, grouped with cattle, sheep,
goats, etc.

Several genera of Antilocaprids are known from the fossil record; only _Antilo-
capra_americana_ (these similar names can get confusing) survives, with (I
believe) five subspecies recognized.  They are prarie dwellers, found through-
out the American Midwest and West, and the prarie regions of Mexico and Canada.

Unlike Bovidae and Cervidae, there is no evidence that the Antilocaprids mi-
grated here from anywhere--evidently, they are true natives.  Neither is there
any evidence that they ever migrated anywhere else, nor does anyone know any
really good reason why they didn't.

They are the fastest-running western mammal, and though a cheetah can outsprint
them, the pronghorn can run flat out for _miles_!  Seems to me there was a re-
cent article in either Smithsonian or Nat. History (Maybe Sci. American?) about
current studies on their tremendously efficient lungs that gives rise to this
unequalled cross-country running.  Their speed seems (not surprisingly) to be
their stock-in-trade; they tend to avoid mountanous areas, sticking to the open
plains where there's room to RUN!  (They're sometimes playful about it, too.
This past weekend we were mapping caves out in the gypsum plains between Vaughn
and Roswell, NM.  Pronghorn frequent the area, and while most will ignore us or
flee as we drive around, one pugnacious little fellow insisted on running with
us (at a careful distance, of course) as we drove around those backcountry
roads.  We have to be on a straight and good-quality road to be able to outrun
those things.)

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Antilocaprids are the stickie-uppies
on their heads, which strictly are neither horns nor antlers, combining features
of both.  Cervidae (deer) have antlers, which have no bone core and are shed
annually.  Bovidae (oxen, bison (American "buffalo"), true (Old World) buffalo,
goats, sheep, and true antelope) have horns, with a core of living bone and a
hard shell which exfoliates, but does not shed per se, and is replenished from
the inside out.

The pronghorns have horns of living bone, covered with a shell of distinctly
different composition.  The SHELL is shed annually; the bone core is permanent.
_Antilocapra_americana_ is unique, at among the ruminants, in having this kind
of horn.

It appears to have been the early Spanish explorers who first hung the sobri-
quet of "antelope" (as "Verendo", modern form "Berrendo") on the pronghorn.
Certainly, they do resemble antelope more closely than much of anything else.
Things haven't changed much in modern times, at least not here in the Land of
the Flea and the Home of the Plague.  The New Mexico Game and Fish department
still administers an "Antelope season" every year.  We also call bison "buffalo"
and bird spiders "tarantulas".  I guess there's no helping it.

						d
-- 
	So effectively have environmentalists greened public opinion that
      it takes an unashamed reactionary to question the wisdom of becoming
      ever greener and cleaner.		-- The Economist, 08 Aug 92 p. 11
     Duke McMullan n5gax nss13429r phon505-255-4642 ee5391aa@triton.unm.edu
Newsgroups: rec.backcountry