UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1346 
Washington, D. C. 
August, 1925 
STATUS OF THE PRONGHORNED ANTELOPE, 1922-1924 
By Edward W. Nelson, Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey 
CONTENTS 
Page 
The prongliorned antelope 1 
Former and present abundance of 
pronghorns 1 
Characteristics of the American, ante- 
lope 4 
Chosen, habitat 7 
Conservation and control 8 
Conservation organizations! and the 
antelope 9 
Washington conference on the con- 
servation of the pTonghorn 11 
rage 
Establishment of antelope refuges in 
Nevada li 
Proposed Owyhee Antelope and Sage- 
hen Refuge, Idaho 15 
Restocking experiments, 1924 16 
Methods of capturing and transplant- 
ing antelope 18 
Results of a census of existing ante- 
lope 22 
THE PRONGHORNED ANTELOPE 
The pronghorn, or American antelope {Antilocapra americana)^ 
is the most beautiful and graceful of America's big-game animals 
and has the distinction of being the only species of antelope exist- 
ing in the New World at the time of its discovery by Europeans. 'It 
is not closely related to the antelopes of the Old World; but, as in 
the case of many other species of American mammals and birds, it 
was named by the early settlers from its general resemblance to the 
w^ell-lmown Old World group. It is apparently of American origin, 
as shown by fossil remains of related forms. In addition, remains 
of species belonging to the true antelopes once inhabiting this con- 
tinent have been found in fossil beds from coast to coast, some of 
which show remarkably close affinity to still-existing African types. 
FORMER AND PRESENT ABUNDANCE OF PRONGHORNS 
The first record of the pronghorned antelope having been seen by 
Europeans was published in 1723 in Torquemada's Monarquia In- 
diana,^ in which is described a great hunt made in honor of the 
viceroy, Antonio Mendoza, in 1540, at a place in the extreme south- 
western part of the State of Hidalgo and adjoining parts of the 
1 Vol. 1, book 5, pp. 611-612. 
44349°— 25 1 
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