Wyoming is a land of sagebrush, pronghorns and cattle ranches, dotted with occasional oil derricks that tower over the plains like prehistoric monsters. It has a reputation for hard work, adventure and a love affair with the Old West, as evidenced by the bison on its state flag and the famous bucking bronco logo, a reminder of Wyoming’s equally famous rodeos.
Wyoming also has a reputation for conservation. The last wild bison in the United States found refuge in Yellowstone, the world’s first national park. More recently, the black-footed ferret was feared extinct until a few animals were found preying on Wyoming prairie dogs.
Like the bison—depicted on Wyoming’s state flag—and black-footed ferret, the prairie-dwelling pronghorn was once near extinction. With protection, the species recovered and is now most numerous in Wyoming.
Though early settlers dubbed the pronghorn an “antelope,” it belongs to a different family—the antilocaprids. Like horses and rhinoceroses, antilocaprids evolved in North America, becoming very diverse and abundant millions of years ago. Unlike horses and rhinoceroses, they never became extinct in North America.
North America’s fastest land animal, the pronghorn is the only surviving antilocaprid and is one of the few hoofed mammals with no close relatives outside North America. A living fossil, this odd, forked-horn creature is a reminder of the spectacular mammals that roamed North America’s grasslands even before the Ice Age.
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