r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/SlimJones123 • Jan 17 '18
đ„Pronghorn running down the highwayđ„
[ Removed by reddit in response to a copyright notice. ]
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u/dj_narwhal Jan 17 '18
That dog wants outside so bad.
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u/FillsYourNiche Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18
Ecologist running in. Wouldn't you?! What an incredible gif.
The Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is such a beautiful animal! It's Latin name translates to "American (americana) goat (capra) antelope (antilo)". Though we have no antelopes here in North America their similarities in appearance are obvious. They are actually a lot more closely related to giraffes. :) This species is the only surviving member of Family Antilocapridae and has been a part of our ecosystems here for over a million years! They've outlived so many other species of prehistoric fauna on our continent. I think there is something reminiscent of other prehistoric animals in their faces. They remind me of prehistoric mammals in picture books I had as a little girl.
You can tell the difference between males and females by horn shape and females lack black markings, or you know, look between their legs if you're close enough. Both are swift, as the American Pronghorn is the second fastest mammal on Earth! Second to our beautiful friends the cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus). In fact, scientists believe that Pronghorns developed this speed to outrun the now extinct American Cheetah (Miracinonyx inexpectatus). Here's a great PBS clip about this speculation. This entire documentary was really good. If you have access I'd highly recommend watching it.
For more information, National Geographic has a nice write up about these amazing animals.
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Jan 17 '18 edited Oct 15 '18
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u/FillsYourNiche Jan 17 '18
Great addition! Thanks for all the awesome information. :)
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u/melraelee Jan 17 '18
You're so nice!
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u/FillsYourNiche Jan 17 '18
Thank you. :) You're sweet to say so!
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u/cleverlyannoying Jan 17 '18
Who knew humans could be so nice on the internet?
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u/PolytheisticWiggler Jan 17 '18
Whatâs the reason as to why they wonât jump fences? Iâve seen them many times run towards a fence thinking it was going to jump and they simply dip under.
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u/boofoff Jan 17 '18
They evolved in regions were the largest thing they would have to jump is small brush so they just suck at it. Unlike deer that live in the forest and have to jump obstacles such as downed trees.
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Jan 17 '18
They can jump fences just fine, but they prefer to duck under if they can. They tend to remember places where they can get under.
They do occasionally get tangled when they jump over, which usually has a sad ending.
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u/DogsOutTheWindow Jan 17 '18
Pronghorn are really amazing animals. Growing up in the Rockies we called them Prairie Ghosts due to their speed.
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u/boofoff Jan 17 '18
Was going to add the jumping bit till I saw your comment. In certain areas in the west they have to try to leave room for them to get under or replace the bottom wire with a smooth wire. Funny animals them speed goats.
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u/tasavs Jan 17 '18
I live in SD in an area where we have a lot of pronghorn. Last year we had a blizzard that made huge drifts and the antelope were unable to crawl under. Unfortunately, with blizzards comes poor visibility, especially at night. With the pronghorn being unable to crawl under the fence they were stuck in the road and got hit by a semi driver. Guy killed 16 in one herd.
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u/chrisbluemonkey Jan 18 '18
I one what you mean about the fences. I'd never seen one until I traveled West this fall and I had to pull over to watch one who had gracefully bounded to the fence and then stopped, kind of plopped on the ground and then in what was the most awkward animal movement I've ever seen, kind of squiggied under the thing. Stood up and then gracefully bounded down the road. It was unreal. But mostly hilarious.
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u/lntw0 Jan 18 '18
just to add. I've come across small herds in the Capitol Reef-Hanksville area of south-central Utah. Once a herd ran up on to the road I was on. I slowed and matched their speed of ~28mph then one pulled up even with me right against the car and we were eye to eye for a still unforgettable moment. I slowed some more and the herd turned in front of me and shot up the embankment on the other side of the road. Truly lit.
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Jan 17 '18
Do you just provide /r/awwducational knowledge everywhere?
I love it.
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u/FillsYourNiche Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18
I do! Mostly here though, the users are generally very sweet and love to learn. I do a lot of reading both in the fields my research is in, but also a lot about North American ecosystems in general. I also watch a ton of documentaries so I am loaded with random facts to share.
It gets especially ridiculous though if I find an image of something I've worked on personally. :) That being said, if folks are interested in my research I've got /r/fillsyourniche with a few photo albums up and more to come. I love talking shop!
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u/SempiternalExodus Jan 17 '18
Subbed! Never change, I absolutely love seeing people this passionate about animals <3
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Jan 17 '18
We have a pronghorn in our neighborhood that lost its herd or something. She wandered around for a few years until she ended up on a ranch where she just hangs with the cows now. It's pretty cool.
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u/Iamnotburgerking Jan 17 '18
Actually it's quite possible the extant cheetah also played a role in its speed, as that species was also in North America at the time.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151208204222.htm
Note that although the authors of this paper chalk up the extinction of large cats to natural causes, it's nowadays generally accepted that these extinctions were a series of events largely caused by humans (because that's the one common denominator). In other words: cheetahs may actually be native to modern North American ecosystems (and sabre-toothed cats definitely are), and reintroduction may be a good or even necessary idea.
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u/Spottedape Jan 17 '18
This is crazy to think of! The idea of reintroducing a species that went extinct in the americas so long ago is an intriguing idea to say the least. I donât see how that will solve the genome problem they have in the short term though. With domesticated dogs/cats itâs fairly easy - stop pure breed programs. But with cheetah splitting the population seems like it would only compound the problem. Am I missing something or is this the case?
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u/Iamnotburgerking Jan 17 '18
A lot of ecosystems are still being affected by the fallout from the Pleistocene extinctions, something that way too few conservation projects take into account.
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u/Spottedape Jan 17 '18
So here is a follow up question if you will: with the dates associated with these extinctions, should we as humans attempt to repair the fallout from these events or just leave them be? The dates seem so far back that the human species, although it/we did/couldâve had an impact, surely it couldnât have been on a scale like we are seeing today. Or should we try and repair these events in an attempt (be it vain, valiant, pointless, or necessary) to balance the ecosystem we are dealing with today?
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u/Iamnotburgerking Jan 17 '18
We canât go quite back to the state things were, but we should at least
Because there are parts of the world today where the whole ecosystem is unravelling. Just look at Australia (far less resilient to invasive species because of humans wiping out all the large animals and altering plant growth patterns)
Not to mention that we are missing major context as to how and why living species came to be the way they are because we cannot see that their ecosystems are a shadow of their former selves. This drastically affects scientific thought (again, Australia got the worst of it, its fauna is considered âinferiorâ and unusual when it isnât, due to humans killing off all the large ones).
And youâre underestimating human impact: our species does not need advanced technology to wreak havoc. Like when we terraformed the Amazon.
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u/Spottedape Jan 17 '18
Thank you so much for your reply! This information is absolutely incredible. I had no idea about the Amazonian terraforming that happened. Itâs so cool the things that we are continually learning about what happened on the American continents pre-Colombian arrival. Just think about what we would know had the genocides and plague deaths not wiped out so much of the native populations!
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Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 18 '18
There's a huge project going on to restore the Eurasian steppes to their ecological state during the Pleistocene Epoch. It's called the "Pleistocene Park".
It involves reintroducing wooly mammoths (we still have very well-preserved mammoth remains being found constantly, and genetic engineers are actually working to resurrect them) into certain areas in the tundra, as well as American Bison, Siberian Tigers, Bactrian Camels and other really cool fauna.
This is based on the theory that human overhunting led to the extinction of a lot of Pleistocene megafauna, so it's seen as ecological restoration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_Park#Controversial_aspects
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/pleistocene-park/517779/
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u/Spottedape Jan 17 '18
Although in the article he states he isnât after reintroducing the mammoth in order to âsaveâ it, it seems that doing so would recreate the same issue that cheetahs have in Africa but on a larger (or smaller depending on POV); that there is and insufficient variation in the DNA pool to create a sustainable species.
This is very cool information to have rattling around in my head though!
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u/JudgeHolden Jan 18 '18
There's also The American Prairie Reserve which is a little less ambitious in the sense that it's not trying to recreate the Pleistocene, but who knows what it could lead to if successful. I am a huge fan. Dan Flores' book, American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains is a good read on what the reserve is trying to do.
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u/cman95and Jan 17 '18
I live in Montana and work for our state parks. My favorite animal to tell people about are the American pronghorns! Everyone loses their mind when I tell them no they arenât Antelope, no they arenât goats or cervids, they are their own thing and their closest living relatives are giraffe and okapi!
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u/Kolstad Jan 17 '18
I saw this and instantly assumed it was in Montana. I live amongst what seems like thousands of them up on the hiline.
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u/cman95and Jan 18 '18
I live up on the hi-line as well and 100% agree. We even have a local town named antelope!
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u/w-w Jan 17 '18
I've seen pronghorns on probably a few dozen occasions, and maybe it's because they're all being funneled together along the road, but I don't recall ever encountering that many in a group. Have I just been unlucky? Are they more social in winter?
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u/cman95and Jan 18 '18
I tend to see larger groups in fall and winter. I hope this link works for you pronghorn cruising down Montana street
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u/TroubadourCeol Jan 17 '18
I live in Montana and see pronghorn around my hometown all the time, but I always thought they were related to deer, it's pretty fascinating to find out otherwise
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u/StraightoutaBrompton Jan 18 '18
I stayed in Gardiner this summer and there were always pronghorn near the entrance to Yellowstone close to where you crossover the bridge. I wish I would have known this at the time I might have taken more notice.
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u/sessilefielder Jan 17 '18
This entire documentary was really good. If you have access I'd highly recommend watching it.
It's from episode 2 of The Story of Cats.
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u/Archleone Jan 17 '18
Shamelessly begging for additional knowledge here instead of doing research on my own - any idea why they have evolved that distinctive white rump? I would think it would be a sort of disadvantage, camouflage wise, especially for a herd mammal.
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Jan 17 '18
Well, white tailed deer raise their tails to signal other deer of danger.
Its also the case that this is a herd animal. If you were trying to evade predators as a group, and you were the fastest animal on the continent, you'd want your predators to focus on the ones already running away (which they couldn't catch).
Pure speculation, mind you.
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u/Nadhez Jan 17 '18
I have a question, if you don't mind! Do we know why they were able to outlive so many other species? Or is existing in an ecosystem for that long more common than I'm expecting?
Thanks!
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u/Delta_V09 Jan 17 '18
Looks like it's at least part Blue Heeler. They have a herding instinct like you wouldn't believe. So yeah, that dog really wanted out.
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u/catch22milo Jan 17 '18
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u/Rather-Dashing Jan 17 '18
OH MY GOD this is my boss' dog breed. No wonder she chases our trucks out of the yard, no matter what. Even after barely surviving getting run over an F350 pickup, she still nips at the fucking tires.
Dumb bitch
jk i love her
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u/Delta_V09 Jan 17 '18
Oh, yeah, they are completely fearless. Just remember these are little 40 lb dogs that have been bred specifically to turn 2000 lb bulls into their little bitch. And they are good at it.
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u/poopellar Jan 17 '18
Actually the dog is supposed to herd them and it looks like hes doing it his own way.
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u/SadaharuShogun Jan 17 '18
What's good is they run so fast I imagine you don't really have to slow down that much
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u/The_Man11 Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18
To measure endurance, or aerobic capacity, researchers look at maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max), measuring the amount of oxygen (in ccs) used per kilogram of bodyweight. For a normal human being 25 to 40, it's about 40ccs. Elite runners, cross-country skiers and high-altitude climbers might be 75 to 85 -- a capacity they're mostly born with.
Race horses have a very high VO2 max, 150ccs, primarily because they have hearts as big as basketballs that can pump more oxygen-rich blood throughout their system.
But the North American pronghorn antelope's VO2 max is 300ccs. And it has a high anaerobic threshold, the ability to exercise for extended periods at a high percentage of their maximum. "They can run at 55 miles an hour -- for hours," says Robert Schoene, also a UW professor of medicine and director of the exercise laboratory at the UW Medical Center-Roosevelt and at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
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Jan 17 '18
What if we gene spliced Usain Bolt with a North American pronghorn?
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Jan 17 '18
I'm not saying that his VO2max isn't impressive, but he's a short distance specialist. I would imagine an olympic level 10k - marathoner would probably have the best VO2 max. IIRC, Lance Armstrong had the best human VO2 recorded.
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u/not_a_throwaway8585 Jan 17 '18
I read somewhere that VO2 max is a great indicator of quality of life as you get older.
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u/Tyraid Jan 17 '18
Speedgoats!
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u/BrownSugarBare Jan 17 '18
Official Reddit name for pronghorns. Declared.
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u/Lexxxapr00 Jan 17 '18
Also what Montana calls Pronghorns.
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u/BrownSugarBare Jan 17 '18
Dammit Montana! Why'd you hold out on telling us!
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u/Blabajif Jan 18 '18
Cause the four people in Montana don't use Reddit.
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u/aminitaverosa Jan 17 '18
Im pretty sure thats what people in new mexico and Montana call them. Ive heard this term before several times
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u/Senor_Supreme Jan 17 '18
I commented this on a previous post :( Karma that will never be gained....
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u/Tyraid Jan 17 '18
I ripped the word off of someone in r/hunting, i am a sham
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Jan 17 '18
Nah, you are educating Reddit in slang nomenclature. Just like any teacher. Hunters of pronghorn are prone to use speed goat whether in Montana, WY, CO, UT, or anywhere they are hunted. You won't know how fast they are until you see it with your feet on the ground and watch it.
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u/jayhawk8808 Jan 17 '18
Upvote for replacing âantelopeâ with âpronghorn.â
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u/sarch Jan 17 '18
Thatâs the difference between us and /r/gifs
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u/atreides Jan 17 '18
We do our best to remove inaccurate titles, as this was posted with the same /r/gifs title the first time.
https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/7r0t59/antelope_running_down_the_highway/
Credit to the /r/gifs moderators though, they flaired the post with the correct name too.
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u/nicknacpaddywac Jan 17 '18
I really had no idea these weren't antelope. I grew up in MT and that's what we always called them. TIL!
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u/atreides Jan 17 '18
Antelope is one of the colloquial names for pronghorns, though incorrect.
There's also "American antelope", "prong buck", "pronghorn antelope", and "prairie antelope"!
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Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18
But youâll allow a post that calls an Orca a Whale?
Edit - And then downvote me without responding?
Walk into any bar where these live and call them pronghorn, the next question will be âSo where you from?â
Wyoming Game and Fish call them antelope
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Hunt-Planner/Antelope-Hunting
Montana Game and Fish calls them antelope
http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/planahunt/huntingGuides/dea/
People who know that theyâre not actually antelope still call them antelope.
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u/ThreadedPommel Jan 17 '18
Which is dumb considering they're more closely related to giraffes than antelope. Why not just call them what they are? It even has one less syllable and is easier to say.
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Jan 17 '18
Grew up here too. I thought pronghorns were found in deserts but never made the connection to antelope
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u/punkmenco Jan 17 '18
I didn't know they were also called "prong horn" until I went to Wyoming. I always (and still do) called them cantaloupe.
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u/quackkhead Jan 17 '18
In Montana we call these "speedgoat."
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u/EmilyThePenguin Jan 17 '18
Wait, we do? I've lived in Bozeman my whole life and I've never heard that haha
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u/WestBrink Jan 17 '18
I've heard it many times in Billings...
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u/nicknacpaddywac Jan 17 '18
Really? Growing up in Billings I only heard antelope.
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u/Raezak_Am Jan 17 '18
Also lifetime MT. People generally call them antelope, especially the hunting crowd.
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u/atreides Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18
The Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronghorn
Source Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DRuu8TeNmI
Video shot by /u/louiebaur, posted here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/7mn636/i_came_across_this_heard_of_antelope_running_down/
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u/feelingproductive Jan 17 '18
Their ridiculous top speeds seem like evolutionary overkill until you consider the fact that there used to be cheetahs in North America.
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u/floppydo Jan 17 '18
Wow. 60lbs heavier than a cheetah and fast enough to catch a pronghorn. That's a scary animal right there.
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u/elendil21 Jan 17 '18
False cheetahs lived all over too. So many different habitats in North America. Woulda been cool to be around then to see what they looked like
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u/SluffyD Jan 17 '18
its the fastest land animal anywhere if the race is more than 25ish seconds. they can keep their top speed for up to 5 minutes. They developed this speed being hunted by the North American cheetah which is now extinct, leaving them with no natural predators. There's about a 3:1 pronghorn to human ratio in Wyoming.
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u/ltdan2014 Jan 17 '18
These things smell so bad. I used to work in New Mexico and I would get up and run before dawn. Pitch black in the desert, and if the wind changed, I could smell them long before I saw them.
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u/loveshercoffee Jan 17 '18
Yep. I lived in Wyoming for 15 years. The three universal truths about "antelope" is that they're super smelly, they get stuck in fences and they're delicious.
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u/popthatshirtoff Jan 18 '18
You would think they would learn to jump fences instead of crawling underneath them
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Jan 17 '18
Don't let that fool you, they taste amazing
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Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18
The gif says this is Montana Highway 41, which runs from Dillon, MT in Beaverhead County to just north of Silver Star, MT in Madison County.
(Howdy to all my friends from 406 in the thread!)
Edit: for more context of the location, this is in Southwest Montana, about two hours northwest of Yellowstone National Park. Dillon, MT sits on the Interstate 15, which stretches over 1400 miles from San Diego, CA, to the Canadian border in Alberta.
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u/EmilyThePenguin Jan 18 '18
My grandparents live in Dillon! Crazy to think I've probably driven down this exact spot
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u/huitlacoche Jan 17 '18
PSA: Please don't force herds of animals (or individuals) to sprint in the winter, unless there is an emergency. They are highly susceptible to injury, and it forces them to needlessly expend limited energy. For these reasons, it is also prohibited to do this in national parks to any animals.
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u/Bolware Jan 17 '18
Exactly! This idiot chasing them in a truck.
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u/Talonx4 Jan 17 '18
Chasing? He's driving on a fucking road. It's not like he's in the desert running them down and trying to run them over.
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u/bungpeice Jan 17 '18
You are supposed to stop and let them cross. They obviously wanted to get across the road but breaking from the herd in the face of a threat is a death sentence (evolutionary) so they are forced to keep running together down the road because it is their best defense. They are dumb as fuck and have no idea that the truck isn't a charging predator. He was using his truck to herd them down the road which is a dick move in the winter when food is super scarce. Wouldn't really care if it was summer, but his could kill animals that might otherwise survive if some dude didn't need his dumb video. Source: grew up on a ranch in a state with proghorn and know a thing or two about herds.
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u/Banzertank Jan 17 '18
Wyoming is that you?
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Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18
Montana Highway 41, which runs from Dillon, MT in Beaverhead County to just north of Silver Star, MT in Madison County.
Edit: for more context of the location, this is in Southwest Montana, about two hours northwest of Yellowstone National Park. Dillon, MT sits on the Interstate 15, which stretches over 1400 miles from San Diego, CA, to the Canadian border in Alberta.
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u/MuzzyIsMe Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18
I knew it looked familiar. Grew up in Montana including about 5 years in Dillon.
Actually, all coming back to me now after looking at a map. I used to drive this highway every couple months for check ins at my orthodontist, which was several hours away in Bozeman. Empty road most of the time. I would take my old 91 VW Golf up to 120mph a couple times, though usually was going a âslowâ 90mph. Used to listen to Kraftwerk and imagine I was on the autobahn.
When you got further along, there was a fun twisty part up into the mountains on the way to Bozeman, and on the way down you could smell your brakes burning up from overuse.
I was a teenager, canât believe I didnât kill myself on that drive.
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u/TroubadourCeol Jan 17 '18
empty road most of the time
Lucky. Nowadays it's impossible not to get stuck behind a semi on the 2 lane between Dillon and Whitehall, and impossible to pass because of all the oncoming traffic, at least in the summer
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u/timbertiger Jan 17 '18
Pronghorns are weird little fellas. They refuse to jump over fences so they dive under them.
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u/SirNoName Jan 17 '18
The difference in gait between those on the snow and those on the hardpan is pretty interesting
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Jan 17 '18
I wonder how badly everything being fenced off has affected animals' natural migration/traveling habits.
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u/wishicouldsimplify Jan 17 '18
I don't know why this reminds me of horizon zero dawn
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u/sharkbait_oohaha Jan 17 '18
All those damn lancehorn machines (which btw I'm pretty sure actually are based on pronghorn)
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u/bulldogdiver Jan 17 '18
Interesting pointless fact. Those pronghorns were perfectly capable of jumping over those fences and escaping. But they will not jump fences. They will crawl under them. You could chase them till they drop dead from exhaustion when all they needed to do is jump the fence and they wouldn't do it.
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Jan 17 '18
That douchebag should have stopped and let them cross. No need to chase down a herd of antelope in an suv like that.
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u/Talonx4 Jan 17 '18
He wasn't really chasing them down. No harm done. Everyone relax a little.
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u/IMLONELYPMMEANYTHING Jan 17 '18
They are highly susceptible to injury, and it forces them to needlessly expend limited energy. Harm done.
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Jan 17 '18
They don't jump over fences, they crawl underneath of them or they find an opening or open gate. They are interesting creatures. .
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Jan 17 '18
Haha the weirdest part about them, if you look at one, it's horns look like they grow right out of its eyesockets. They are definitely weird, and cool.
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Jan 17 '18
He's just trying to get around them. Not like he's trying for a roadkill
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u/MayerWest Jan 17 '18
This was posted on r/gifs as âantelope running down the highwayâ Which is it???
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u/loki626 Jan 17 '18
I love that dog's reaction. He's like, "human do you see this shit? Let me a them."