Nursing Pronghorn

Here's a Throwback Thursday of nursing Pronghorn. Gorgeous!

 

Pronghorn on Hwy 17

We've been having so much rain this monsoon season, so the skies are clear and the grasslands and mountains are greening up.  Also enjoying this August, the pronghorn on Hwy 17 between Fort Davis and Marfa.

Pronghorn on Hwy 17

Taken this week between Fort Davis and Marfa!

Antelope Hunt 1912

Fred Gibson and James Hanibal Beach, Photograph, ca. 1912; digital image, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth14175/ : accessed January 13, 2014), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Clark Hotel Museum, Van Horn, Texas. 

Another great image from the collection of the Clark Hotel Museum in Van Horn.  Our Texas Mountain Trail organization helped the museum with a grant to preserve photographic images of early Culberson County.  Click on the photo for a closer view!

Pronghorn

Seen December 17th, just north of Marfa

Photo, courtesy Texas Historical Commission

A frequent sight around the region, pronghorn are among the Chihuahuan Desert's large mammals. The population is affected by drought, which we've experienced in recent years, so it is a delight to see a large group as we did this week.

Read more about the pronghorn on Texas Parks and Wildlife website, here.

Pronghorn babies

The drought has been hard on wildlife in the region, and the pronghorn populations appear to be affected.  However, we DO see them out, and last night, we saw a mother and three babies along Hwy 17 between Fort Davis and Marfa!

Click on the photos for a closer view!

Pronghorn

Photo courtesy of Texas Historical Commission

Taken outside Marfa

While the drought has affected pronghorn populations, we still see them in the wild in our region, especially from the side of the road in grassland areas between Van Horn and Marfa, as well as the Alpine and Fort Davis areas.  Read more about pronghorn here and here!

Nursing Pronghorn Fawns by Carolyn Nored Miller

"Pronghorn fawns spend most of their time alone, inert on the ground until they are strong enough to make a thirty-mile-per-hour sprint.  It may take as little as three days to develop that kind of speed, at which point they can keep pace with the mildly panicked adults.  Still they are not fast enough for a serious chase, so for eight weeks they keep to the ground.  Within hours, sometimes minutes, of birth, they seek a hiding place, drop, and wait.  The technique works.  Wildlife researchers have observed standing fawns from a distance, but when they have walked down, startling the fawns into hiding, they have been unable to find the animals." From The Animal Dialogues, by Craig Childs. 

You can read more about pronghorn here. 

Again our hearty thanks to Carolyn Nored Miller of Fort Davis for this wonderful photo taken in Jeff Davis County!  With her permission, we'll most more photos by Carolyn from around Fort Davis.  In addition to taking photographs, she's also the publisher of San Angelo Family magazine.  Thanks again, Carolyn!

Pronghorn Herd

"They do not run like deer, who will gather speed with hesitation, glancing back, bounding, jumping and weaving between trees.  Not like elk, the ones that crash and gallop, heavy and solid, moving toward a forest into which they can vanish.  The pronghorn were gone with grace, sprinting into the open.  They moved like birds, swerving together as they aimed for a single point.  They are the fastest long-distance runners on the continent, some of the fastest land creatures in the world, clocked at nearly sixty miles per hour.  They have been known to clear thirty feed without touching the ground."  From The Animal Dialogues, by Craig Childs. 

You can read more about pronghorn here.  (include link:  http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/land/habitats/trans_pecos/big_game/pronghorn/)


We thank Carolyn Nored Miller of Fort Davis for this lovely photo taken in Jeff Davis County.  Carolyn publishes San Angelo Family magazine.  Thanks again, Carolyn!

Pronghorn Antelope

Thanks to Randy Mallory and the Texas Historical Commission for this wonderful photograph!

Antelope grazing on the way to Post Park

Photographed Saturday, on the road from Marathon to Post Park!  Double-click for a closer look!

Cholla Fruit

Taken in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, this photo is provided by Clara Maverick Photography. Cholla fruit are a favorite food for the pronghorn antelope living in the region.

Pronghorn Antelope

Flowering Cholla

Cholla cactus fruits are a favorite food of the many pronghorn antelope in the region. Here's a scene near Fort Davis on the Scenic Loop.

Pronghorn Antelope

Viewed on Hwy 90 between Valentine and Marfa.