# Why are pronghorn so fast. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 3, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147 "2012-07-03T22:44:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/21 "2012-07-04T17:31:39Z")
> [@ChickenLegs](#): > > Depends on tree height vs. hill height and incline angle. I still lean towards the hoop snake. 32 feet per second squared, and all that. How high is the tree? No, he’s the guy runs the little Chinese laundry down the street. Friday night special, all the collars and cuffs starched and pressed for one dollar more. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/22 "2012-07-04T19:13:22Z")
Per Ogden Nash: \* The kangaroo can jump incredible. He has to jump, because he’s edible.\* I imaging it is much the same for the proghorn. ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/23 "2012-07-04T19:50:58Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Per Ogden Nash: > \* > The kangaroo can jump incredible. > He has to jump, because he’s edible.\* > > I imaging it is much the same for the proghorn. Marginally edible. Back-Easters eat him. Locals, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/24 "2012-07-04T21:01:39Z")
> [@ChickenLegs](#): > > And while we’re at it, this is another example of where mainstream science fails. The cheetah is actually the second fastest land animal. The hoop snake is faster (but it cheats a bit by using gravity.) I have never seen a hoop snake but there were some people in my hometown that swore they had family members get chased by them. Once that snake puts its tail in its mouth to form a wheel, there is no hope of outrunning it unless…you have sense enough to turn and run back uphill. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/25 "2012-07-04T21:31:49Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I have never seen a hoop snake but there were some people in my hometown that swore they had family members get chased by them. Once that snake puts its tail in its mouth to form a wheel, there is no hope of outrunning it unless…you have sense enough to turn and run back uphill. But that’s exactly what they want you to do, that’s where the rest of the pack is waiting for you. You need to run on a level gradient and let friction take care of it. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/26 "2012-07-04T21:45:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Jeez, spend the last minute of your life in freefall and you’re no longer a land animal? It could be a [tortoise parachutist](http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/4136/PreviewComp/SuperStock_4136R-389.jpg) (even more rare than the hoop snake). ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/27 "2012-07-04T23:37:49Z")
> [@ChickenLegs](#): > > Ask the guy who lives in middle of the densest population of pronhorns anywhere: me and Natrona county, Wyoming. > > Here’s a interesting fact. Pronghorns can jump, but they don’t generally know it. In their natural habitat; the open prairie, there is no need to do so. Contrast that to the whitetail deer of the forests, who regularly have to jump over fallen trees, bushes, etc. > > So pronghorns are very confused by barbed-wire fences. They’ll commonly crawl under them, and they can do it real fast. Its looks funny and unnatural. I have, on more than one occasion, startled them into running right into a fence, though. But they can jump, they just don’t know it. Sometimes a few of them figure it out. I have witnessed individuals jumping over a four-foot fence like nothing. Smooth like butter. You’d think more of them would figure it out. “Hey! Look what Max just did! Cool.” > > But they don’t. They seem to remember sections of fence with damage or missing lower wires, and will travel long distances to cross at these points. It’s common to see a single pronghorn on one side of a fence, looking very confused, with a group of animals on the other side a few feet away. Like “Hey, how can I get with you guys?” Sounds like one of the things the pronghorn jettisoned for faster getaway is gray matter. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/28 "2012-07-05T00:42:10Z")
I don’t think they jettisoned it. They never had much use for it so never developed it. Basic function of all life is: Eat stuff, reproduce, get eaten by other stuff. It’s only fairly recent (say, a couple of hundred thousand years) where Humans and our predecessors have developed the gray matter to go “Hey, wait a minute!” Predator animals (of which Humans are definitely one) tend to have higher capacity for thinking because it is usually necessary to work out how to continue eating. Herbivores like the Pronghorn don’t need to think about their food too much, they only need to be able to run like hell from the things trying to eat them. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/29 "2012-07-05T03:47:56Z")
I had a prongie pace me at 45mph driving out to Factory Butte in Utah one morning. He looked to be a male in his prime and it looked like he was just cruising. Just magnificent. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/30 "2012-07-05T03:56:44Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I had a prongie pace me at 45mph driving out to Factory Butte in Utah one morning. He looked to be a male in his prime and it looked like he was just cruising. Just magnificent. I don’t have any experience with pronghorns, but it’s not unusual for deer to pace my car or motorcycle for a while, then turn sharply and run right into the car, or at least the path of the car, at full speed. Do prongies do that, or are they smarter? > [@Malacandra](#): > > Hoop snakes are all very well, but talking of gravity assist, the predator with the greatest _momentum_ has to be the drop bear. I’ve heard that unicorns are speedy runners, too. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147/31 "2012-07-05T10:29:48Z")
Having spent some time hunting them I can vouch that they are infuriatingly fast, but dumb. Since they (obviously) live in open areas, hunting them looks like this. Hunter: sneak, sneak, sneak, sneak, pause… sneak, sneak, sneak, Pronghorn: Notices sneakage, Ruuuuuuuuun (nothing but dust as the entire group disappears and reappears a mile away). Hunter: sigh… sneak, sneak, etc. Eventually remembering they are dumb and curious, I once elected to sit beside a bush and slowly wave my hat back and forth. The male could \*not \*resist this and wandered right up to me (and into my freezer) 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pronghorn-so-fast/627147.md?page=1)