A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1469 entries
pronghorn
The pronghorn is a hoofed mammal of western North American grassland and sage country, and it is the fastest land animal on the continent, capable of sustaining forty miles an hour for miles rather than in a short burst. It is not an antelope and is not closely related to one; it is the only surviving member of its family. Its horns are a bony core with a keratin sheath that is shed and regrown every year.
Etymology
The English name is for the forward-pointing prong on each horn. It has been called an antelope since the first European accounts and the name has never quite come off, which is why it is still commonly the American antelope.
Notes
The speed is generally read as a leftover. Pronghorn evolved alongside an American cheetah and several other fast predators that are no longer here, so the animal is outrunning something that stopped chasing it a long time ago. It has enormous eyes set far back on the head, giving nearly a full circle of vision, and it can detect movement at several miles.