Flushing, N.Y- June 27, 2011 - The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo is happy to announce the birth of four pronghorn antelope fawns born at the zoo.

The pronghorn antelope is the lone member of the family Antilocapridae. They are true American natives that do not occur anywhere else in the world and are the second-fastest land animal in the world – second only to the cheetah.

The four fawns were born to two different mothers a week apart, one delivering two females and the other having a male and a female. Each tiny fawn has a coat of beautiful soft-brown fur and enormous dark-brown eyes. They are already starting to run and prance on their signature long legs which give the species its incredible speed.

Two of the babies can be seen on the zoo’s farm. Zoo-goers can watch as zookeepers bottle-feed a nutrient-rich formula to these young animals several times a day. The two younger fawns remain in the pronghorn exhibit on the wild side of the zoo.  

The new fawns bring the zoo’s pronghorn herd up to eight. A species known for taking long trips in the wild, adult pronghorns at the zoo spend much of their time running through their large, open exhibit space. The exhibit is a naturalistic design resembling their native North American plains. Pronghorns are second only to Arctic caribou for long distance migration in the Western Hemisphere.

The pronghorns live alongside the zoo’s bison herd – two species that share the same landscape in nature, making this exhibit an authentic experience for both the animals and visitors.

In the wild, pronghorn populations are threatened by new roads, fences, development, and resource extraction activities that are increasingly encroaching upon, and restricting, access to suitable habitat. WCS’s North America Program scientists are currently in the field tracking the migration of pronghorn along corridors, including Wyoming’s Path of the Pronghorn. This research will provide the information needed to understand and protect these animals and enable them to continue to wander over great open spaces.

Video Credit: Luke Groskin © WCS

Contact:
Barbara Russo – 718-265-3428; brusso@wcs.org
Max Pulsinelli – 718-220-5182; mpulsinelli@wcs.org
Steve Fairchild – 718-220-5189; sfairchild@wcs.org

 

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo – Open every day of the year. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors 65 and older, $5 for kids 3-12, free for children under 3. Zoo hours are 10am to 5pm weekdays, and 10am – 5:30pm weekends, April through October, and 10am – 4:30pm daily, November through April. The Queens Zoo is located at 53-51 111th Street in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park in Queens. For further information, call 718-271-1500 or visit www.queenszoo.com.

The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. www.wcs.org Special Note to the Media: If you would like to guide your readers or viewers to a web link where they can make donations in support of helping save wildlife and wild places, please direct them to: www.wcs.org/donation