Pronghorn in Repose

Pronghorns are often called antelopes, but they are more closely related to Giraffes and Okapi.  

We saw a herd of about 20 on a drive outside of the park, and four smaller groups inside the park.

These three Pronghorn were in repose, bedded down to get out of 30-mile per hour winds that had me braced against a Lodgepole Pine to get a semi-steady shot.

Pronghorns are the fastest native mammal in the New World, capable of running 45 miles per hour.

That kind of speed, of course, presupposes a predator capable of running that fast.  

But where is that predator?

Gone for thousands of years, but not forgotten:  the North American Cheetah, or Miracinonyx, which disappeared about 16,000 years ago — a blink of an eye in evolutionary terms.

There are ghosts all around us if you know what questions to ask, and where to look.  

Every Pronghorn has the ghost of a Miracinonyx following it. It is invisible, but only just out of sight.