Thread: Rare pronghorn may be further endangered by spike in border

http://www.dailystar.com/sn/hourlyupdate/82313.php

Rare pronghorn may be further endangered by spike in border crossings
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Biologists are concerned that an increase in migrant traffic on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge could have deadly consequences for the endangered Sonoran pronghorn.

The biologists say they have noticed a spike since early spring during which traffic has gone from a handful of crossers a night to 200. The number of Border Patrol agents assigned to the refuge has doubled at the same time.

The refuge shares a 60-mile border with Mexico but the increased migration has been funneled though a single, narrow valley.

That's the same area where biologists and volunteers have been installing watering holes and irrigation plots to bolster the native plants that pronghorn graze on as their main source of food and water.

John Hervert, a wildlife biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, fears the traffic could scare the deerlike pronghorn away from their best chance for survival.

"It doesn't take much to disturb the animals," he said. "Whether it's somebody doing law enforcement, somebody smuggling drugs or people, it's that encounter. If it's the wrong kind of encounter, if the pronghorn were to run during the heat of the day, for a couple of miles, there's no doubt in my mind that it can lead to the death of the animal."

Only 58 adult Sonoran pronghorn survive in the United States today. They've been on the endangered species list since the list was created in the mid-1960s.

The biggest threats to their survival are drought and human activity.

Historically, the animals could travel from the Colorado and Gila rivers to the Gulf of California to look for water. But highways, railroads and canals have cut off traditional water sources, and pronghorn will not step on a paved road. Biologists have seen them die of thirst rather than cross a highway.

Historically, the animals could travel from the Colorado and Gila rivers to the Gulf of California to look for water. But highways, railroads and canals have cut off traditional water sources, and pronghorn will not step on a paved road. Biologists have seen them die of thirst rather than cross a highway.

I hope God shows know mercy for those that willfully, and knowingly allow this to happen.

What we have done and allowed to happen to our treasured animals God gave us dominion over is shameful, heartbreaking, and the saddest thing in the world. GET THESE BORDERS SEALED!!

God will have no mercy on such vile people placing these creatures and I'm sure many others in pitiful deadly harm's way. This is a Wildlife Refuge....not a traipsing ground for a bunch of vile thieves trying to steal our nation; our jobs; our benefits; our system; our soils.

GOOD GOD PEOPLE!! STAND UP!!

This is only an itsy bitsy fraction of the harm these liars, cheaters and thieves are causing our Nation in the name of "theyjustwantabetterlife"... at the expense of everything we hold dear.

http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/americanpro ... havior.cfm


American Pronghorn

Their name comes from the prong on the side of the male's hooked, black horns.


Fawns can walk just hours after being born and can run smoothly in just one week.

(see link for more photos of these magnificent animals)

Introduction
The pronghorn is the second fastest land animal in the world, almost as fast as the cheetah. It is the fastest in the Western Hemisphere.

In 1915, after the American pronghorn was almost hunted to extinction, there were only 15,000 animals. Today, there are less than 700,000, but some pronghorn are still on the brink of extinction.

Behaviors

Interesting Facts:

..The pronghorn runs with its mouth open, not from exhaustion but to gasp extra oxygen.
..Often mistakenly called an antelope, pronghorn are actually the last surviving species of a group of antelope-like goats called antilocaprids that are native only to North America.
..The pronghorn is the only horned animal in the world that sheds at least the outer layer of its horns every year.
..The eyesight of a pronghorn is equivalent of a human using eight-power binoculars.
..Adult pronghorn are built for speed to outrun predators. This adaptation evolved on the ancient American prairies because ancient pronghorn had to outrun prehistoric cheetahs and dire wolves. No modern predator can outrun and catch a healthy adult pronghorn.

Voice: Grunt, bark, cough

Habitat Type: Sonoran pronghorn live in broad alluvial valleys with granite mountains and mesas and extreme weather. Other pronghorn live in grasslands, grassy brushlands and sagebrush-steppe areas.

Range: Sonoran pronghorn inhabit three counties of southwestern Arizona (Yuma, Pica and Maricopa) and the northwestern part of Mexico's Sonora state. Pronghorn live in Southeastern Oregon, southern Idaho, southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, Montana, and western North Dakota south to Arizona and western Texas.

Diet: Forbs are very important, but cacti and grasses are also utilized. Pronghorn drink little water when moist green vegetation is available, such as the chain fruit cholla; in winter, it browses on many different plants. Pronghorn are heaviliy dependent on sagebrush. The most productive pronghorn herds live in the sagebrush-steppe.

Movement: The fastest animal in the Western Hemisphere and among the fastest in the world, the pronghorn, often making 20-foot bounds, can reach a top speed of 60 miles per hour. It rivals the cheetah for world land-speed records. Pronghorn can maintain an easy cruising speed of 30 mph for about 15 miles. The pronghorn runs with its mouth open, not from exhaustion but to gasp extra oxygen. The pronghorn avoids muddy ground but is a good swimmer. Pronghorn can learn to jump fences, but it takes time and their natural inclination is to duke under fences. Woven wire fences can be a death trap for pronghorn, especially during severe winter weather.

Defense Against Predators: Active night and day, pronghorn alternate snatches of sleep with watchful feeding. Because they inhabit open terrain, pronghorn rely on spotting enemies at a distance and fleeing speedily. The animal's large protruding eyes have a wide arc of vision and can detect movement four miles away. If the pronghorn is alarmed, its rump hairs, which are about twice as long as other body hairs, become erect, almost doubling the size of the white rump rosette and producing a "flash" visible for great distances. When a herd flees, a buck usually serves as rear guard. If the terrain, presence of young, or a surprise attack forces a pronghorn to fight rather than flee, it uses as weapons only its sharp hooves, which are effective enough to drive off a coyote.

Territories: Older males start establishing territories in March or April, and defend them through the end of the rut. Defense is much more vigorous in the center of a territory than on the periphery. Especially during the rut, males defend territories by staring down rivals, giving loud snorts, approaching and interacting with the intruders, chasing them away, and fighting if necessary, battling fiercely with their horns. Most breeding takes place on the most desirable territories.

Fawns: Sonorans are able to reproduce at about one year of age for males and sixteen months for females. Males pursue females during the summer, and they mate between July and September. Fawns are generally born between February and May. Sonorans breed earlier than other pronghorn, generally giving birth in March or April, just in time for the desert's most nutritious vegetative period. A doe's first breeding usually produces one fawn; subsequent breeding produces twins or, rarely, triplets. The doe spaces twins (or triplets) several hundred feet apart. Nearly odorless for their first few days of life, fawns lie quietly in high grass or brush while their mother grazes at some distance to avoid attracting predators. For about one week she returns frequently to nurse, and then does and fawns join the herd. About a month after breeding, horns are shed. Many fawns die. In a good year, perhaps 30 fawns survive for every 100 does. In drought years, very few or no fawns survive.

Getting Water: Sonoran pronghorn rely on vegetation to get most of their water. The chain fruit cholla (Opuntia fulgida) is a cactus which is an important source of water for the pronghorn. The cactus produces buds which have a very high water content -- about 80 percent water, with only some nutritional value. Even young fawns eat chain fruit cholla for its water content. Biologists suspect that Sonorans see and smell rain storms and move to the areas where rain has fallen in order to take advantage of the desert forage which grows quickly after precipitation. At one point, scientists were not sure if the Sonoran ever drank water. Unconfirmed reports indicated that Sonorans drink at man-made water catchments, but it wasn’t until the summer of 1995 that biologists from the Arizona Game and Fish Department actually saw pronghorn drinking. The biologists videotaped and photographed up to 15 pronghorn drinking water from a crater formed by a test bomb dropped on a U.S. Air Force range decades before. Today, scientists still debate whether pronghorn need running or free-standing water to live, or whether they are just opportunistic, taking advantage of the open water they see but able to survive without drinking if necessary.