For those of you who’ve never been in a western state, you might not have seen these exquisite creatures, the pronghorn antelope. Small, fleet of foot with exceptional vision, “goats” as I grew up calling them, are everywhere in Wyoming. There will be small bunches on the tops of the Big Horn Mountains (in open country), and herds of hundreds in the winter on the prairie.
This buck’s horns look small from this angle. An easy way to gauge size is to compare the horns to the ears. Twice as long as his ears is a nice mature buck. But when this one looks at me…
Oh, yeah… his horns have more angle than most antelope. This guy is pretty handsome.
But the goat I wanted to photograph is this one.
His right horn is normal… His left suffered some kind of injury and didn’t form correctly. Their horns are actually made of hair around a bony base. The black outer sheath is shed every winter and a new one grows… kind of like antlers, but not.
MMMMMM… I’m kind of seeing a “Ten Things You Didn’t Know…” post in my future! Anyway, I just wanted to get a picture of him, instead of blasting by him at 60 mph on my way to work!
Got it.
Find me here!
Gorgeous animals. Thank you for highlighting them, which they certainly deserve.
The antelopes are beautiful! Great photos of them. Here in NM we see them often in the valleys of the mountains (yes we have some big mountains in NM–mainly high plains and desert–but the tail end of the Rocky Mountains also!) It’s so nice to see them close up in your photos, though, instead of far off in the distance!
Q: Do the antelopes cause a problem for you in competing with the cattle for grazing?
Thanks for the close ups.They are beautiful. We always call them lopies. I love seeing them when I am visiting my home state of Wyoming.
Love antelope. They are amazing
Unique and beautiful.
I think these are my favorite high plains creatures…..so curious, so fast, so pretty, including the heart shaped fur on their behinds!
Beautiful creatures. I did not see any when I was in WY, but did see a young bear that had wondered into a camp ground. A Ranger was sent for and the bear was returned to his/her home.