Pronghorn Antelope and a Crane Landing

In our travels here in Southern Arizona we have seen some number of Pronghorn Antelope. Though not true Antelope they are called that here in North America. They are the fastest animal in the Western Hemisphere and can reach speeds in excess of 60 mph.

One day out on the Elgin-Canelo road south of Sonoita we encountered a band of Pronghorn and watched their movements, it was quite fascinating.

We first saw this doe standing on a hill to the right or west side of the road. She was looking to the east, across the road we were on. We then noticed additional antelope coming over the rise. There were barbed wire fences on both sides of the road so we stopped to watch the proceedings.

Antelope can jump and could clear the fences easily if they chose to jump but normally they will crawl under the fence. The bottom strand of wire on the first, right hand fence, to the right out of this picture, was smooth. Many of the ranchers here have replaced the bottom wire with a smooth wire and raised it a bit to allow easier access for the antelope. In this picture this animal had already gone under the right, smooth bottom wire fence but seemed to have some trepidation about this next fence.

Another pronghorn came up towards the first one and the fence.

With the encouragement they decided to go under the fence.

The first antelope cleared it quite easily crawling on the ground under the barbed wire. This side did not have the smooth wire and the animals can tear their hide and injure themselves on the wire if not careful.

The second pronghorn crawled under the fence with room to spare.

We watched 24 pronghorn cross the road successfully navigating both fences and there were still more appearing from beyond the rise to the west. It was fascinating to watch and readily apparent that they had done this before. We did not see one jump or appear to contemplate jumping, they all crawled under the fence.

This big buck antelope was not in the group crossing the road rather he was seen up in Las Cienegas, an open grassland area not far to the north.

The pronghorn have horns, not antlers. Antlers occur on members of the deer family and grow as an extension of the animal's skull. They are true bone, a single structure, and, generally found only on males.

Antlers are shed and regrown yearly while horns are not shed and continue to grow throughout an animal's life. The horns of the pronghorn are made of two parts: a bony core that is covered by a sheath made of a stiff hair-like material. This outer sheath falls of every year in the fall and then grows back in the summer.

Moving to a different subject, we thought we would show a series of images that present a Sandhill Crane coming in for a landing. We saw this one and several thousand others on a recent visit to Whitewater Draw just east of where we live in Arizona. We often don’t realize what gyrations the crane goes through to land

As they would say in gymnastics "He stuck the landing". The movement and manipulation of the wings and feathers to slow and control the descent is fascinating to watch.

We hope you enjoyed this brief look at both the pronghorn antelope and sandhill crane.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments. All the best – George & Deanna