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Concept
Pronghorn
Summary
The pronghorn (UKˈprɒŋhɔːrn, USˈprɔːŋ-) (Antilocapra americana) is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American antelope, prong buck, pronghorn antelope and prairie antelope, because it closely resembles the antelopes of the Old World and fills a similar ecological niche due to parallel evolution. It is the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae.
During the Pleistocene epoch, about 11 other antilocaprid species existed in North America. Three other genera (Capromeryx, Stockoceros and Tetrameryx) existed when humans entered North America but are now extinct.
The pronghorn's closest living relatives are the giraffe and okapi. The Antilocapridae is part of the infraorder Pecora, making them distant relatives of giraffids, deers, bovids, and moschids.
The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere, with running speeds of up to . It is the symbol of the American Society of Mammalogists.
Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the pronghorn was particularly abundant in the region of the Plains Indians and the region of the indigenous people of the Northwest Plateau and was hunted as a principal food source by the local tribes. The pronghorn has also featured prominently in Native American mythology and oral history.
The scientific name of the pronghorn is Antilocapra americana. Although first seen and described by Spanish explorers in the 16th century, the species was not formally recorded or scrutinized until the expedition in 1804-06 by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark. Following the discovery of a few subspecies of the sharp-tailed grouse, Lewis and Clark came across the pronghorn near the mouth of the Niobrara River, in present-day Nebraska. Clark was among the first Euro-Americans to publish the experience of killing a pronghorn, and described his experience as follows:
I walked on shore to find an old Vulcanoe [the Ionia Volcano?] .
Official source
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