For those not in the know, these are probably the second fastest land animal on earth, second only to the cheetah. And these guys can maintain their high speed, unlike a cheetah which is definitely a sprinter and is wiped out by one good charge at prey.PronghornView attachment 207297
They live in North America (which means they're not true antelopes...but people here call them that anyway). There's no predator here even remotely fast enough for pronghorns to need that speed. But there used to be; there was, not too long ago geologically speaking, a "North American Cheetah" (probably not a true cheetah) that could run every bit as fast as the African one,
In both cases the dynamic is the same: The cheetah has to get close enough to his prey that when he starts his dash, he's able to catch up to it before he tires out. The prey just has to run fast enough to stay out of the cheetah's grasp for a few seconds, before the cheetah runs out of steam. That's fast, but not as fast as the cheetah.
Upvote
0