pronghorn

[prawng-hawrn, prong-]

noun

plural

pronghorns ,

plural

pronghorn .

1. a fleet, antelopelike ruminant, Antilocapra americana, of the plains of western North America: now greatly reduced in number and endangered in some areas.

pronghorn

/ ˈprɒŋˌhɔːn /

noun

1. Also called: American antelope. a ruminant mammal, Antilocapra americana, inhabiting rocky deserts of North America and having small branched horns: family Antilocapridae

Word History and Origins

Origin of pronghorn¹

First recorded in 1805–15; prong + horn

Example Sentences

"These results help us understand the evolutionary history of horns and antlers and could suggest that differences in other ruminant cranial appendages, like ossicones and pronghorns, are also elaborations on a shared ancestral cranial appendage."

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"Other drivers of global change viewed as threats to pronghorn -- including nonnative annual grass invasions, wildfire, roads and increased winter precipitation -- were not prominent drivers of long-term declines in pronghorn productivity," the scientists concluded.

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A new paper published in Global Ecology and Conversation makes that argument in the case of declining pronghorn productivity -- the number of juveniles per 100 females -- in Wyoming.

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Austin Breeding examining the burned carcass of a pronghorn in Miami.

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The question of whether humans can build necessary solar infrastructure without harming nature is playing out in the grasslands of the American West, prime locations for solar farms and home to animals like pronghorn.

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