Holy Antelope, Batman!

There are giant herds of pronghorn antelope (Antelocapra americana) all around the ranch and the north end of the Black Rock Desert right now. On every hike we've taken we've seen at least two herds, usually we see three or four. They are all over the place. I've seen herds of antelope before, but never in these numbers. One herd that ran by us had so many antelope that it seemed to take forever for them to cross our path.

Pronghorns are easily recognizable with their white rump and underside. Their back is a light brown/tan color and the males have a black muzzle, forehead and cheek patches. Both sexes have horns which shed annually. The males have longer horns than the females, whose horns only grow to about 2 inches in length or less, sometimes they don't grow at all. Male horns tend to grow to about 12 inches and have a prominent prong on one of the two branches.

I took this picture of a herd just above the ranch, I had to zoom way in so you could see them so the quality is not all that great, but you can see their prominent white rumps (click on the image to see a larger version).

Pronghorn antelope with their prominent white rumps