.
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 1/2 hour old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas: photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Life, such a delicate thing. They will struggle just to stand, nor will things get easier later. Soon enough they will have to be able to run -- for it, for life, for their lives. Still, here they are, now. And they have just noticed us for the first time. But probably not the last.
Such a peculiar thing, to each its own, none more nor less important than any other one.
Life, such a harsh thing. Yet so companionable, from the first. It wouldn't harm a fly.
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 45 minutes old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas: photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 1 hour old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas: photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 1 hour old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas (2): photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 1 hour old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas (3): photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 1 hour old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas (4): photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 1 hour old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas (5): photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 1 hour old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas (6): photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 1 hour old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas (7): photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Pronghorn doe with fawns about 1 hour old at Up & Down Ranch, 10 miles northwest of Ft. Davis, Texas (8): photo by Helmut Karl Buechner, 28 May 1947 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Hunter with Pronghorn antelope, New Mexico: photographer unknown, 1940s: posted by windryder, 11 August 2012
Pronghorn hunt: photo by Matt (mattphillips18), 19 August 2008
Pronghorn evolved as creatures of vast spaces. Their white rumps, ochre fur and harlequin-striped faces camouflage them in tawny grasslands. They bound across plains at speeds unmatched by any other North American land animal. They can spot a predator four miles away. But these adaptations have not protected them from a mysterious population crash in Trans-Pecos Texas. What’s happening to them here?
Millions of pronghorn once roamed Texas’ western half, but overhunting and habitat loss sent their numbers plummeting in the late 19th century. The Trans-Pecos’ grasslands remained home to most of the state’s pronghorn, with the Marfa area having one of the highest densities in the southwestern United States. Trans-Pecos pronghorn numbers have been falling though since the 1980s, when they peaked at 17,000. Last year, they hit an all-time low of just over 4,700 animals.
-- Megan Wilde: Pronghorn in Decline: Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, Fort Davis, Texas (2014)
Pronghorn, West Texas: photo by Circle Ranch, 3 September 2011
Desert Pronghorn, Sierra Diablo Desert, West Texas. These are pronghorn does in the desert. They have at least one fawn which we observed but could not photograph. The Eagle Mountains are in the background: photo by Circle Ranch, 25 May 2011
Pronghorn, Sierra Diablo Desert, West Texas: photo by Circle Ranch, 25 May 2011
