Pronghorn buck at the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park

During our recent trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone, we encountered a herd of 14 pronghorn outside the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana.  This buck seemed to notice the lenses we had aimed at him for photography, so we got this head-on shot.

Pronghorn are unique to North America.  Like other horned animals, their horns have bone at their core, but unlike others ungulates, their horns are covered in sheaths that they shed every year, much like antlered animals shed their antlers annually.

Pronghorn are the fastest land mammals in North America capable of hitting 55 miles per hour.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Black-tailed deer face, with antlers in velvet

This black-tailed deer was trying to get a good meal of grass seeds while numerous cars full of people were stopping to watch him in Yellowstone National Park. Deer and other related animals, like elk and moose, grow new antlers every year. During the time the antlers are growing, they're covered in a fuzzy skin called velvet. When the antlers are done growing, the velvet dies and the deer will sometines be seen rubbing its antlers against trees or shrubs to get the velvet to come off. The velvet might hang on in long strips and you can sometimes see blood on the antlers where the velvet still had a good blood supply. After the breeding season, the antlers will fall off from the base and the male deer will be antlerless until the next spring into summer, when the process starts over again. Female deer don't grow antlers, but the related caribou do have antlers for both sexes.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

A mule deer buck with antlers in velvet.  Antlered animals grow new antlers every year and require a layer of skin called velvet to nourish the antlers as they grow.  By the end of summer the velvet dies off exposing the antlers for the mating season.

This buck was next to the road in Yellowstone National Park.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.