Born to Run

Three pronghorn fawns are gaining speed on the Great Plains of the Queens Zoo. The babies, two boys and a girl named Dugan Jr., Mags, and J.R., were born in June. Pronghorn antelope—the second fastest land animal in the world, after the cheetah—can outrun a person at just four days old. By the time they are full-grown, they reach a top speed of 54 miles per hour! And unlike the speedier cheetah, these antelope can do more than just sprint; they can sustain fast speeds for miles.

Under the care of their keepers, Donna-Mae Graffam and Craig Gibbs, the pronghorn fawns are growing fast, too. Graffam feeds the three babies a nutrient-rich formula out of bottles, and, as Gibbs says, “Donna’s perfected the triple—she feeds them all at once.” (Two in one hand, and the other between her knees!)

This type of contact with humans helps the young pronghorns, which can be skittish, grow accustomed to the presence of their keepers at the zoo. The keepers, meanwhile, are able to keep track of their progress with daily weigh-ins. At three weeks, the two youngest fawns tipped the scales at 8 and 15 pounds; eventually the female is expected to grow to 120 pounds and the males to 150.

A species known for taking long trips in the wild, the pronghorns spend much of their time running through their exhibit, which resembles their native habitat of the North American plains. Pronghorns are second only to Arctic caribou for long distance migration in the Western Hemisphere.

Updated: 7/17/2009