Watch As Queens Zoo's Pronghorn Fawns Zip Around
July 13, 2011
Photo Credit: Julie Larsen Maher
The Queens Zoo saw the arrival of four Pronghorn Antelope fawns. The fawns were born to two different mothers one week apart, and include one set of female twins and a second male-female set, bringing the Zoo’s Pronghorn herd up to a total of eight.
Each fawn has a coat of soft brown fur and enormous dark-brown eyes. Already they can be seen prancing around their exhibits on their signature long legs, which give the species its incredible speed. Pronghorn are one of the world’s fastest land animals, second only to the cheetah. They also rank highly for endurance, second to Arctic caribou for the longest-distance migration in the Western Hemisphere.
Two of the fawns can be seen on the Farm, where visitors can watch zookeepers bottle-feed them a nutrient-rich formula several times a day, as you see in this video.
The two younger fawns remain in the Plains habitat which they share with a herd of bison just as they would in the wild. Those babies spend much of their time running through the large, open space.
Pronghorns are true American natives, occurring only on our continent, and the lone member of the family Antilocapridae. In the wild, they face a variety of threats, including new roads, fences, development, and resource extraction activities that are increasingly encroaching upon their habitat. WCS’s North America Program scientists are currently tracking the migration of pronghorn along corridors such as Wyoming’s Path of the Pronghorn. Their research will help inform efforts to conserve these animals and the open spaces they require to thrive.