New Mexico’s 2097 pronghorn records belong to the state’s grasslands, and they tilt northeast. Colfax and Union counties lead, a sweep of plains that includes Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge and Fort Union National Monument, while the broad valleys of Socorro, Torrance, and Chaves counties carry the record through the center of the state across State Trust Land grazing country.
Speed as a survival strategy
The pronghorn is the fastest land animal in North America, able to sprint past fifty miles per hour in country that offers nowhere to hide. It is not a true antelope but the last living member of its own family, and uniquely among horned animals it sheds and regrows the outer sheath of its horns each year. New Mexico’s herds are the widespread American pronghorn; the endangered Sonoran subspecies does not occur in the state as a resident population.
Fawns with the late-spring grass
Counts rise through spring to a May and June peak, when does drop their fawns in the open and the young soon trail their mothers across the flats. Come winter, herds gather on windswept grassland and shrubland where the snow lies thinner, feeding heavily on sagebrush and other browse when grass runs short.
Status in New Mexico
NatureServe ranks the pronghorn S5, Secure, in New Mexico, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
