A very pleasant surprise finding a herd of about 12 pronghorn yesterday just on the outskirts of north suburban Denver. I’ve seen them north close to and in Wyoming and further out on the eastern plains but never this close to the city.
Their predominantly light color stood out like a sore thumb on the green field allowing me to spot them from quite a ways away. I raced to get as close as I could, pulled over and scrambled up a small hill to get a view.
Unfortunately they were moving away and I never got all that close to them. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun to see them.
Pronghorn are what folks oftentimes mistakenly call antelope (and sing about ala “Home on the Range”). However there are no species of antelope in North America. These speed demons are capable of speeds up to 55mph! They are the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere and the second fastest land animal on earth – only the cheetah is faster.
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