Where the Antelope Play … Or So I Thought

While traveling through Wyoming on my way to visit Yellowstone Park for the first time I was delighted to see herds of antelope on the plains. While the scenery was absolutely breath taking, I wanted to get a closer look at these unusual animals.

Well good luck!

Antelope live on the open plains for a good reason. Their wide set eyes give them the ability to see 360 degrees. Being herd animals, one of them is always on lookout. When spotting danger the lookout will flare out that white patch on its rump like a white flag and, good bye, there gone.

No understatement these little beauties can hit speeds up to 50 or 60 mph. They have been known to race cars, trains and people on horseback. Not only that; they seem to enjoy the race. They have the ability to jump fences but instead they crawl under them. (I have seen whitetail deer do the same thing.)

This was a very memorable trip and of course I was inspired to do an antelope portrait. I knew there were antelope in Nevada so I planned a trip to the central part of the state. Sure enough on the open plains I found a large herd. I still didn’t get very close to them; just going to keep trying.

I was attending an art show and talking to a gentleman who hunted. He said, “You may want to rename your painting; that’s not an antelope, it’s a pronghorn. Many people make that mistake. Pronghorns are not related to African antelope. The U.S. and Canada are the only place they exist.”

I also learned that the pronghorn was more plentiful than the buffalo before they were hunted almost to extinction. Thanks to game regulations in the early 1900s they are thriving, as are many other species.

I have painted many pictures of this unusual animal and I’m still learning more about them.