7-07-14

Antelocapra americana. The pronghorn "antelope" of North America is actually the last surviving member of a group of ruminants intermediate between deer and cows/true antelope. Both sexes have horns, with the males' much longer, that consist of a bony core and outer sheath that's shed annually. Big Smoky Valley, Nevada, USA. The prominent gray-green shrub is sagebrush. When I was a kid we _never_ used to see antelope in these central Nevada valleys--they'd all been exterminated by the late 19th century or so. In recent decades, there's been a big effort to reintroduce pronghorns to their historic range--with some success, as seen here! Map position approximate due to the loss of the "satellite view" feature.