ARTIODACTYLA 323 



which they are able easily to obtain, as some of them reach a height of 

 1 8 feet. With some difficulty they eat grass and various herbs from 

 the ground. 



The okapis are forest mammals, and are much smaller and quite 

 rare. "Okapi flesh is excellent venison." 3 



FAMILY ANTILOCAPRIDAE AMERICAN PRONGHORN ANTELOPE 



The pronghorn of North America, commonly called antelope, is 

 closely related to the Bovidae, but is considered a distinct family, rep- 

 resented by one living species and at least one subspecies. Unlike the 

 Bovidae, the sheaths of its horns are deciduous and are shed annually, 

 but it does not shed the whole horns, as deer do their solid antlers. 

 Its range formerly extended from Kansas and Minnesota to the Cas- 

 cade Mountains, and from British America to Mexico. 1 These very in- 

 teresting and beautiful animals existed by millions, "far more abun- 

 dant than buffalo" (Nelson), but have been totally destroyed over most 

 of their former range by persistent hunting and by bringing prairie 

 lands under cultivation. In 1925 it was estimated that there were only 

 30,326 of them left alive, in 286 discontinuous areas 26,604 in the 

 United States, 1327 in Canada and 2385 in Mexico. 2 A census of the 

 antelope now living in the United States, compiled by the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, from letters received from the vari- 

 ous game commissioners, is as follows: 3 



Arizona 4,200 North Dakota 200-300 



California 800 Oklahoma Several 



Colorado 2,000 Oregon 25,000 



Idaho 3,000 South Dakota 1,900 



Kansas None Texas 2,000 



Montana 5,ooo Utah 200 



Nebraska 100 Washington None 



Nevada 4,5OO Wyoming * 20,000 



New Mexico 4,000 



They were abundant in Idaho in 1872, but an epidemic in 1873 de- 

 stroyed many of them, and they, have never since been abundant 

 there. 4 It was estimated that there were 25,000 still alive in Colorado 



'Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 278, 1927. 



1 Lantz, Raising deer and other large game animals in the United States, U. S. 

 Biol. Surv. Bull. No. 36, p. n, 1910. 



2 Nelson, Status of the pronghorned antelope in 1922-24, U. S. Dept. Agric. Bull. 

 No. 1346, 1925. The vanishing race of pronghorns, Travel, XL, 5-10, 1923. Nature 

 Magazine, n, 121-123, I 9 2 3- Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 27, 1926. 



3 "An antelope census," Bird-Lore, xxxn, 172-174, 1930. 

 4 Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 5, p. 80, 1891. 



