![](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/mammals_pronghorn_male_wiki.jpg)
29 February 2024
Though we call this animal a pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana), it is not an antelope at all.
While I was on Road Scholar’s Southern Africa Birding Safari last month I saw seven species of antelopes (not my photos; these are from Wikimedia Commons).
Because the pronghorn’s appearance is similar, I can see why he’s called an antelope, but his nearest relatives are other African animals, the giraffe and okapi.
![](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/mammals_giraffe_Gauteng_SA_wiki.jpg)
![An okapi (photo from Wikimedia Commons)](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mammals_okapi_rsz_wiki.jpg)
Pronghorns probably resemble antelopes because they run like them, a trait they acquired to escape cheetahs(!). Cheetahs used to be in North America but disappeared a long time ago.
The pronghorn never stopped running.