Pronghorn Antelope feeding at north Yellowstone, close up

When we entered Yellowstone National Park from the north, from Gardiner, Montana, we saw a herd of about 14 pronghorn antelope grazing right by the road. Some other antelopes not part of this herd were grazing on the other side of the road close to the town of Gardiner. When we saw them and watched for a while, they approached the buildings of the town and even crossed over a parking lot to search for edibles. We took pictures of them in that position, but didn't think to include them in our blog, since you could see roads and buildings in the image, along with the animals.

Rick used his Canon PowerShot to get this 24x zoom image, with an ISO setting of 400, f8, 1/1000 second.

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

Pronghorn antelope on a hillside in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park

This pronghorn antelope doe had just run across the road in front of some stopped cars and she settled on this hillside where she and her fawn could be safe and have a good view of the area. The horn of the pronghorn has a bony center and a sheath made of material like the horn of a bison, but it sheds this seasonally and grows new ones each year. A buck soon followed them in a great hurry to get across the road and join them. Rick managed to get some video of the buck while he was making his dash to the road. These are the fastest land mammals in North America. As soon as they were all on the hillside, they seemed to feel safe enough to settle in and hang around where we could see them. The sun was also getting low in the sky when we were driving through the Lamar Valley, which gave the hill a yellowish glow.

One of the best things about Yellowstone is seeing all the large- and medium-sized mammals all  in one place. Soon after taking this picture, we continued on our way and saw a red fox cross the road in front of us, but didn't have time to stop and get its picture. Then we joined people who had seen wolves earlier in the day. Yellowstone and other National Parks are sometimes referred to as America's best idea, we couldn't agree more!

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