A Comeback for One of World’s Fastest Mammals

Pronghorn, North America’s fastest land mammal, is increasing in number after decades of hardship, thanks to an initiative that removes fencing and other barriers and provides safer road crossings.

“We’ve widened our breadth of work and are thinking about removing barriers on the landscape, both fencing and road barriers, which is helping all wildlife move more easily,” says Pat Todd, who has led the initiative for the past two years under the NPCA’s Volgenau Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Fellow.

Pronghorn top North America’s list for the fastest land mammal, reaching speeds of 60 mph. However, the animal has a much harder time jumping over fences and other barriers they may come across. Their population has significantly dropped in the United States’s Yellowstone National Park. The National Parks Conservation Association intervened after the pronghorn reached a record low of 190 individuals in 2009. Over a decade later, thanks to removing many unnecessary fences, pronghorns are being seen in areas they haven’t been in for years, and their population has reached 481 individuals. “This work isn’t only important for pronghorn, it’s important for the other ungulates — sheep, mountain goats, elk, mule deer,” adds Todd.