North America's fastest land animal can outrun a cheetah
CC BY-ND-NC 1.0 Josh More
The pronghorn is one of the often overlooked mammals on the North American continent. Usually mislabeled as antelope, this species of grazer is actually more closely related to goats and vast herds once roamed throughout the plains.
At Carrizo Plain National Monument in California, a small herd of once-native pronghorn has been reintroduced.
Pronghorn are the fastest land animal on North America. In fact, it is the second fastest land animal in the world with only the cheetah clocking faster speeds.
The difference, though, is that while cheetahs can reach a faster top speed, they can only hold that speed for a few hundred yards. Pronghorn can sustain blazing speeds for miles, and in a distance run would easily beat a cheetah.
Pronghorn can reach top speeds of around 55 mph and can run at a steady clip of 30 mph for over 20 miles. For comparison with the other fastest land animal, cheetahs can reach speeds of over 60 mph but only for sprints of about 700 yards.
Pronghorn could finish a marathon in about 45 minutes, while a human would be working hard to finish a marathon in over two hours.
This speed starts at a very young age. Females give birth in the spring to one or two fawns, which stay hidden in the grass until they are old enough to outrun their primary (non-human) predators of coyotes, bobcats and golden eagles. This happens in just a couple weeks. In fact, a fawn can outrun a human in just a matter of days after being born.
But if a pronghorn can so easily leave every predator on North America in the dust, even at a very young age, just how and why did it get to be this fast?
A Speed Machine
According to Stan Lindstedt, a comparative physiologist at Northern Arizona University, there is no secret trick to pronghorn reaching such incredible speeds. "It has simply perfected the same equipment that all mammals have," he told Discover Magazine.
"We found that pronghorn have an extraordinary capacity to process oxygen. Each antelope consumed between six and ten liters of oxygen a minute, which is five times as much as a typical mammal of similar size would burn--a 70-pound goat, say--and more than four times as much as Carl Lewis would consume if he were shrunk to the size of a pronghorn antelope. (A pronghorn stands about three feet at the shoulder.) Compared with the goat, it has bigger lungs with which to absorb oxygen, slightly more blood hemoglobin with which to transport the oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, and slightly bigger and leaner muscles containing a higher concentration of mitochondria--the cellular organelles that burn oxygen to provide power for muscle contraction. In other words, there are no tricks to the pronghorn antelope."
So why are they so amazing at running?
Outrunning Ancient Predators
After 20-some years of wondering about pronghorn in his researches, Dr. Byers has come up with a compelling theory.
Though there is no predator today who can catch a pronghorn at a sprint, this wasn't always the case. Dr. Byers says the pronghorn runs this fast because it is chased by the "ghosts of predators past" -- including American cheetahs. This is why pronghorn can only be beaten by cheetahs in a sprint.
In American Pronghorn: Social Adaptations and the Ghosts of Predators Past, Dr. Byers argues that the pronghorn perfected its running prowess well over 10,000 years ago when the North American continent was still home to swift-footed predators like cheetahs, long-legged hyenas, the giant short-faced bear, huge jaguars and saber-toothed cats, along with the more familiar, albeit slower, coyotes and wolves.
Predators were much bigger and much faster back then, and thus forced the pronghorn -- and some similarly built and now extinct cousins -- to evolve to be incredibly fast. Though the predators disappeared, the pronghorns' ability to outrun them has persisted.
So now we have a marvel of speed still roaming the prairies, perhaps a relic but still fascinating.
Modern Threats
There are two things, however, that pronghorn cannot outrun, and these threats come from humans. The first is habitat loss from urban sprawl, and the second is miles upon miles of fencing along ranches, roadsides, farms and developments.
Habitat loss is a rather obvious threat. Pronghorn need vast spaces to forage for food. The less grassland they have, the less food they have, and the lower their chances for successful reproduction and survival. Not as obvious is the threat of fencing.
Pronghorn are amazing runners, but they cannot jump fences. We may think that because they look a little bit like deer, they can spring over a fence with the same lightness and nonchalance. But that is not the case, and miles of fencing put up along migration routes is a serious problem by limiting access to food and blocking off paths to get access to food, as well as room to outrun remaining predators.
As the National Parks Conservation Association states, "These 'new threats' not only restrict their greatest asset to escape predators but also their ability to migrate over long distances required to find adequate snow-free habitat and forage. As wildlife move from one place to another they do not distinguish between state, federal and private land; they go where there is habitat. Conserving pronghorn migration on public and private lands outside of the Yellowstone National Park offers the last best hope for this iconic species."
Fence removal programs have gone a long way in helping the pronghorn.
In 2010, the Yellowstone Field Office worked with landowners and the Gallatin National Forest to remove two miles of wooden fence and barbed wire, restoring the local pronghorns' migration route.
Similarly, in and around Carrizo Plain National Monument, miles upon miles of old barbed wire fencing remained in the area decades after the last human residents had moved away, creating a somewhat haphazard maze of barbed wire throughout the area. Volunteers continually help to remove or modify these fences to provide the newly reintroduced pronghorn room to escape coyotes and find forbs, like milkweed, which are their main food source.
Link: http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/nature-blows-mind-north-americas-fastest-land-animal-can-outrun-cheetah.html
Pronghorn Range
The pronghorn is one of the often overlooked mammals on the North American continent. Usually mislabeled as antelope, this species of grazer is actually more closely related to goats and vast herds once roamed throughout the plains.
At Carrizo Plain National Monument in California, a small herd of once-native pronghorn has been reintroduced.
Pronghorn are the fastest land animal on North America. In fact, it is the second fastest land animal in the world with only the cheetah clocking faster speeds.
The difference, though, is that while cheetahs can reach a faster top speed, they can only hold that speed for a few hundred yards. Pronghorn can sustain blazing speeds for miles, and in a distance run would easily beat a cheetah.
Pronghorn can reach top speeds of around 55 mph and can run at a steady clip of 30 mph for over 20 miles. For comparison with the other fastest land animal, cheetahs can reach speeds of over 60 mph but only for sprints of about 700 yards.
Pronghorn could finish a marathon in about 45 minutes, while a human would be working hard to finish a marathon in over two hours.
This speed starts at a very young age. Females give birth in the spring to one or two fawns, which stay hidden in the grass until they are old enough to outrun their primary (non-human) predators of coyotes, bobcats and golden eagles. This happens in just a couple weeks. In fact, a fawn can outrun a human in just a matter of days after being born.
But if a pronghorn can so easily leave every predator on North America in the dust, even at a very young age, just how and why did it get to be this fast?
A Speed Machine
According to Stan Lindstedt, a comparative physiologist at Northern Arizona University, there is no secret trick to pronghorn reaching such incredible speeds. "It has simply perfected the same equipment that all mammals have," he told Discover Magazine.
"We found that pronghorn have an extraordinary capacity to process oxygen. Each antelope consumed between six and ten liters of oxygen a minute, which is five times as much as a typical mammal of similar size would burn--a 70-pound goat, say--and more than four times as much as Carl Lewis would consume if he were shrunk to the size of a pronghorn antelope. (A pronghorn stands about three feet at the shoulder.) Compared with the goat, it has bigger lungs with which to absorb oxygen, slightly more blood hemoglobin with which to transport the oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, and slightly bigger and leaner muscles containing a higher concentration of mitochondria--the cellular organelles that burn oxygen to provide power for muscle contraction. In other words, there are no tricks to the pronghorn antelope."
So why are they so amazing at running?
© Outrunning Ancient Predators
After 20-some years of wondering about pronghorn in his researches, Dr. Byers has come up with a compelling theory.
Though there is no predator today who can catch a pronghorn at a sprint, this wasn't always the case. Dr. Byers says the pronghorn runs this fast because it is chased by the "ghosts of predators past" -- including American cheetahs. This is why pronghorn can only be beaten by cheetahs in a sprint.
In American Pronghorn: Social Adaptations and the Ghosts of Predators Past, Dr. Byers argues that the pronghorn perfected its running prowess well over 10,000 years ago when the North American continent was still home to swift-footed predators like cheetahs, long-legged hyenas, the giant short-faced bear, huge jaguars and saber-toothed cats, along with the more familiar, albeit slower, coyotes and wolves.
Predators were much bigger and much faster back then, and thus forced the pronghorn -- and some similarly built and now extinct cousins -- to evolve to be incredibly fast. Though the predators disappeared, the pronghorns' ability to outrun them has persisted.
So now we have a marvel of speed still roaming the prairies, perhaps a relic but still fascinating.
Modern Threats
There are two things, however, that pronghorn cannot outrun, and these threats come from humans. The first is habitat loss from urban sprawl, and the second is miles upon miles of fencing along ranches, roadsides, farms and developments.
Habitat loss is a rather obvious threat. Pronghorn need vast spaces to forage for food. The less grassland they have, the less food they have, and the lower their chances for successful reproduction and survival. Not as obvious is the threat of fencing.
Pronghorn are amazing runners, but they cannot jump fences. We may think that because they look a little bit like deer, they can spring over a fence with the same lightness and nonchalance. But that is not the case, and miles of fencing put up along migration routes is a serious problem by limiting access to food and blocking off paths to get access to food, as well as room to outrun remaining predators.
As the National Parks Conservation Association states, "These 'new threats' not only restrict their greatest asset to escape predators but also their ability to migrate over long distances required to find adequate snow-free habitat and forage. As wildlife move from one place to another they do not distinguish between state, federal and private land; they go where there is habitat. Conserving pronghorn migration on public and private lands outside of the Yellowstone National Park offers the last best hope for this iconic species."
Fence removal programs have gone a long way in helping the pronghorn.
In 2010, the Yellowstone Field Office worked with landowners and the Gallatin National Forest to remove two miles of wooden fence and barbed wire, restoring the local pronghorns' migration route.
Similarly, in and around Carrizo Plain National Monument, miles upon miles of old barbed wire fencing remained in the area decades after the last human residents had moved away, creating a somewhat haphazard maze of barbed wire throughout the area. Volunteers continually help to remove or modify these fences to provide the newly reintroduced pronghorn room to escape coyotes and find forbs, like milkweed, which are their main food source.
Link: http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/nature-blows-mind-north-americas-fastest-land-animal-can-outrun-cheetah.html
Map
Pronghorn RangeFast Facts
- Type:
- Mammal
- Diet:
- Herbivore
- Average life span in captivity:
- 11 years
- Size:
- Head and body, 3.25 to 5 ft (1 to 1.5 m), Tail, 3 to 4 in (7.5 to 10 cm)
- Weight:
- 90 to 150 lbs (41 to 68 kg)
- Group name:
- Band or Herd
- Did you know?
- The pronghorn is the second fastest land mammal in the world, after the cheetah. It can attain speeds of over 53 miles (86 kilometers) per hour.
Fleet-footed pronghorns are among the speediest animals in North
America. They can run at more than 53 miles (86 kilometers) an hour,
leaving pursuing coyotes and bobcats in the dust. Pronghorns are also
great distance runners that can travel for miles at half that speed.
Pronghorns are about three feet (one meter) tall at the shoulders. They are reddish brown, but feature white stomachs and wide, white stripes on their throats. When startled they raise the hair on their rumps to display a white warning patch that can be seen for miles.
Both sexes sport impressive, backward-curving horns. The horns split to form forward-pointing prongs that give the species its name. Some animals have horns that are more than a foot (30 centimeters) long.
Like other even-toed hoofed animals, pronghorns chew cud—their own partially digested food. The meal of choice for this speedy herbivore is generally grass, sagebrush, and other vegetation.
Pronghorns mate each fall in the dry, open lands of western North America. Bucks gather harems of females and protect them jealously—sometimes battling rivals in spectacular and dangerous fights. In the spring, females give birth to one or two young, which can outrun a human after just a few days.
Pronghorns are hunted throughout much of their natural range, but some subspecies are endangered.
Pronghorns are about three feet (one meter) tall at the shoulders. They are reddish brown, but feature white stomachs and wide, white stripes on their throats. When startled they raise the hair on their rumps to display a white warning patch that can be seen for miles.
Both sexes sport impressive, backward-curving horns. The horns split to form forward-pointing prongs that give the species its name. Some animals have horns that are more than a foot (30 centimeters) long.
Like other even-toed hoofed animals, pronghorns chew cud—their own partially digested food. The meal of choice for this speedy herbivore is generally grass, sagebrush, and other vegetation.
Pronghorns mate each fall in the dry, open lands of western North America. Bucks gather harems of females and protect them jealously—sometimes battling rivals in spectacular and dangerous fights. In the spring, females give birth to one or two young, which can outrun a human after just a few days.
Pronghorns are hunted throughout much of their natural range, but some subspecies are endangered.
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