High Desert Pronghorn Buck
by Mike Lee
Title
High Desert Pronghorn Buck
Artist
Mike Lee
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
On this particular mid-spring morning along the edge of the Smoke Creek Desert in Lassen County, California, I had an experience that is very rare (for me, at least). I had a beautiful buck pronghorn, aka “speed goat,” actually stand still for me to take his photograph. Normally, as soon as I see them and try to photograph them, these skittish animals show off how they got their nickname and add to my ever-growing collection of pronghorn butt photos as they speed away from me in excess of 45 mph. A huge bonus was that it was 6:30 AM, and the morning sun was on the correct side of the animal, casting a nice catch light in his eye while the golden light highlighted his beautiful coloration.
Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) are amazing creatures, and I feel truly blessed to live in an area where I get to see them frequently, even if they don’t like to cooperate for photos. Contrary to their aforementioned nickname, they aren’t “goats.” They also aren’t “antelope” as they are commonly called. They are the last surviving member of the Antilocapridae family, which boasted at least 11 species during the Pleistocene Epoch. They are the fastest land animal in the western hemisphere, second fastest on Planet Earth, and hands-down the fastest on the planet over any significant distance (they can do speeds in excess of 40 mph for many minutes over terrain that threatens to twist my ankles just walking on it). Their profound skittishness is often in conflict with their almost as profound curiosity. While they usually run when I get near them, I have had a few give me a “stare down” when I’ve stood still at some distance, and they’ve been known to absolutely fixate on shiny objects.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵. 𝘈 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘯, 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
Uploaded
May 19th, 2023
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