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Pronghorn - ANTILOCAPRA AMERICANA
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Prong": "Prong" means "forked," so the animal is called a "forked horn."
Location: Canada, United States, and western Mexico.
Habitat: Terrestrial. Grasslands.
Description: Both male and female have horns which grow above the eye sockets. The males' horns are dark, with a white and a short process at the front. The outer sheath of the horn is shed once a year, about a month after the rut. The horns are quite distinctive, usually branched, and range from 13 to twenty inches in males and up to five inches in females. The legs are relatively long and slender. Length of head and body about 4.5 feet, tail 4 inches, 3 feet, and weight 150 pounds.
Behavior: In a family by itself, the mostly diurnal pronghorn is a dainty eater and feeds on a wide variety of plants. It usually lives in herds, but solitary animals are sometimes seen. During the mating season the adult males become territorial and mark their territory with droppings and urine. If another male encroaches on the territory, the owner adopts various specific defensive postures, and if the intruder does not retreat, the males may engage in a full-scale duel. The mating call of the rutting male is a guttural cry. If the female accepts the male's advances she raises her tail, and the male approaches with very short steps.
Reproduction: Usually two young are born after a gestation period of about 250 days.
Go to the Artiodactyla Page to learn more about all the even-toed hoofed animals.
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