As you are aware, there was a big push to get through the “Birds of Yellowstone” before the end of the year. The reason for that is I wanted to get to the larger mammals inhabiting that incredible national park. Rest assured, my camera wasn’t just pointed at our feathered friends (well, at least not ALLL the time). Nope, we were constantly on the lookout for those animals we do not get to see much back here in Illinois. Let’s start with those fleet of foot Pronghorns. This is somewhat in tribute to being the first animal to greet us as we passed through the Yellowstone Arch. Immediately off to the right, grazing in the fields, was a couple of Pronghorns pretty much oblivious to our presence.
The above shot is actually on of my favorites from the Yellowstone collection. It was taken in full on Beast mode (400mm) letting us reach out and virtually touch them. This is one of those poses that I affectionately call “The Predator’s View”. For those people locked in the concrete world or worse, PETA members, the eye position gives away the disposition of the animal. Forward eyes generally signify the predator (find a mirror) where the prey have eyes positioned on the sides to increase their field of vision. It may be pointing towards a companion, but it definitely knows where we were. Note, I was also pleased to get some glint in those big black eyes.
A close second in the favorites category is the shot below. Once again you get a feel for it’s field of vision yet it was content enough to continue breakfast while we were busy snapping shots. This lack of interest is probably due to being acclimated to the two legged creatures, although the fact that it can out run my ass without breaking a sweat probably gives it more confidence than your average turtle. For the record, they can run at 30mph for 15 miles with a burst of up to 70mph. According to Wikipedia, this makes it the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere.
At first I thought the antler nubs above the eyes in the previous picture indicated it was a young male. Not being an expert when it comes to non-feathered animals I did a little research. Turns out that females actually have horns as well (up to 3″) where males tend to have larger ones (up to 6″ and then another 9″ during summer fall which it sheds in the winter). The other distinguishing feature of males is a small black mane. Based on that I will have to go with this being a male.
Hit the Jump to see the rest of the Pronghorn pictures
Wildlife Intrigued 