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Pronghorn on Collision Course With Human Populations-A Review.
Posted 7/23/2010 @ 8:44:31 am by Dawn Pollock
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I paid a visit to, "Wild Man's Corner," a delightful site about wildlife and
living in the west mainly. His article titled, "Backyard Pronghorn," while
interesting reading had a few facts that were a little bit off. He has a fun
and easy writing flair so you find yourself enjoying the read, but still
questioning his facts and ignoring the typo's more than once.
He speaks
of the Pronghorn doing so well in population numbers as to be walking down the
main streets and into back yards grazing in folks back yards. This high number of pronghorn, is a true
statement for some areas of the west, and I gather for his area in Oregon this is the
case. The Pronghorn, is not actually an antelope, (wikipedia) and is a migratory animal who
has had it's pathways fragmented and blocked by human populations so the
pronghorns have to adapt. The Pronghorn now find that to use their pathways
they wind up on our streets and backyards. I like that he did address the problem of the pronghorn's struggle with
habitat encroachment issues.
while for the most part the
pronghorn numbers are doing okay in most areas, they are stressed by the
fragmentation and blocking of these pathways. They have the largest numbers in
Wyoming and Colorado, where it is believed that they outnumber people!
The
one Pronghorn that is highly endangered, is in the Baja California Pronghorn, a
desert variety. While this author wrote an interesting article I think he could
have better covered the habitats which are both grasslands and deserts and
covered his facts a little better.
I liked his colorful script on how the
Indians used the Pronghorn's own curious nature to gain the upper hand. This
was truly the best part of his article.
Overall, a fun site, with a
colorful and creative writer who enjoys sharing his world with us