Earlier this month we encountered an unusual male Pronghorn on Antelope Island.
It came unusually close to us as it browsed and at first we didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary but closer inspection through our lenses revealed something that caught our attention – this animal had two strange-looking projections apparently growing out of the top of its muzzle. .
They appear to be inflexible, hard and positioned very near the midline (in a front view, the lower growth is about dead center while the top one is slightly to the left of the midline). I considered the possibility that they were clumps of hair that had become matted with some kind of foreign substance and then somehow twisted into strange-looking projections but when I looked closely at the images I rejected that possibility.
The projections seem too solid, rigid and shiny to be matted, twisted hair.
To my eye they appear to be keratinous growths similar in composition to horns. A little internet research turned up a few unscientific references (from places such as taxidermy forums) which note accounts of Pronghorn with very short “extra horns” that can grow “most anywhere on their heads”.
I have no idea how reliable these “extra horn” references are but I can’t come up with a more reasonable explanation for these “growths”.
This was another one of those days when we remarked to each other as we headed for home – “you just never know what you’re going to see on the island!”. What an amazing place.
Ron
sebaceous cysts?
How truly fascinating. I hope they don’t continue to grow to the point where they are a problem (inhibiting feeding and the like) though.
I do too, Elephants Child but I doubt if they will.
Interesting stuff Ron. It is my understanding that horns in ungulates are in essence compressed hair, so it makes extra growth on the face plausible in a way. What do you think? Anyway, mutations are crazy and fun!
Maybe this pronghorn is a downwinder….
I had similar thoughts, Bryce. It’s my understanding that hair and horns are largely composed of the protein keratin so they must be at least compositionally similar. As a kid I remember finding old decomposing cow horns and I could actually pull off what seemed like long, individual strands of hair. True horns of course have a bony core which complicates things a bit…
Once again, you have shown me something completely new. The closest I have ever been to one of these was when it ran right in front of our car on Highway 24. I got a really good look at its receding rear end! Thanks for my morning nature fix!
I’ll bet that got your attention, Tana. Scary!
Amazing and very interesting!
Charlotte
Thank you, Charlotte.
Ron, I have seen old taxidermy mounts in a few different bars around Montana that had small protrusions of horn or antler on the face. Some were deer & one was antelope. Don’t recall which were in what bar though. 😉
Nice to know about these other similar occurrences, Deb. Thank you. The second part of your comment made me LOL. I have a few “non-memories” of those Montana bars, too.