Speed Goat

by Mike Lee

Title

Speed Goat

Artist

Mike Lee

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photography

Description

Ok, not a goat but some folks use the slang “goat” when referring to one. The American Pronghorn is also commonly referred to as an “antelope” but it isn’t truly an antelope either. Rather, it is a species of its own. The “speed” is certainly accurate though. They are the fastest land mammal in the western hemisphere and possibly the fastest on Earth in sustained runs. They have been clocked at speeds in excess of 55 miles per hour and what’s most amazing to me is the terrain in which they can attain and sustain these speeds. They can run like that in the sort of rocky terrain that literally hurts my feet to walk in! They are truly amazing creatures and very challenging to photograph as they are also quite skittish. It takes very little to get them to display that speed AWAY from you! I have many poor images of their behinds as they ran away and felt blessed that this one ran perpendicular to my position just long enough for me to grab a shot.

I captured the image in a high desert area known as the Smoke Creek Desert in Lassen County, California, USA. The area is managed by The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and hosts a healthy population of pronghorn as well as wild horses and burros. It is also fairly remote country much of which is only accessible on foot or horseback or a VERY rugged and reliable vehicle (and take LOTS of water).

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦. 𝘈 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦.

Uploaded

September 15th, 2021

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