Arizona is Home to the Western Hemisphere’s Fastest Animal

Look, it's a deer, it's an elk, it's an antelope ... nope, definitely not an antelope, it's a pronghorn.

Despite their misclassification as an antelope, pronghorns are common in America's west. In the West, however, we still lovingly call them antelope since they resemble our image of an antelope and are as close as we'll get to one.

Read More: Extremely Rare or Impossible to See Animals in Arizona

A Little Bit About Arizona Pronghorn

You're most likely to see pronghorns in northern Arizona near the Kaibab National Forest, and the northeastern parts of the state. There have been some released in the southern parts of the state to help rebuild the population.

Like deer, males are called bucks and females are does. A good way to tell them a part, bucks will always have black cheeks. Both buck and doe sprout horns which they shed and regrow each year.

Get our free mobile app

Just How Fast Can Arizona Pronghorn Run?

Fast! While not as fast as an African cheetah, it can sustain its speed for longer. A pronghorn can carry a speed of 35 mph for four miles, 42 mph for one mile, and 55 mph for half a mile.

They're built for speed and not for jumping. You may see a pronghorn sprint under a fence rather than over it. In Arizona, the lower parts of the barbed-wire fence is usually smooth to help from injuring pronghorn.

There are even instances where a pronghorn was witnessed with an almost 24-foot stride.