Pronghorns are true American natives, found nowhere else in the world. The pronghorn has exceptionally keen vision complemented by excellent hearing and sense of smell. Both sexes have horns, but the female's are only tiny spikes and are rarely pronged as are the twelve to eighteen-inch horns of the male. This sheath is made up of a stiff, hair-like substance.
Pronghorns are the only animals in the world who shed their horns annually.
The outer sheath of the horn falls off each fall and grows back by the following summer. The coloration of the pronghorn varies from light tan to a rich brown with prominent white patches under the stomach and on the rump. In times of danger, the hairs of the rump can be held erect to produce, in the bright sunlight of the plains, a white flash visible for many miles. Along the neck there is a thick mane of dark brown to black hair. Pronghorn bucks have black patches on the lower jaw below the eye and a black mask extending back from the nose.