Pronghorn vs. Antelope: What’s the Difference?

Main Difference

The main difference between Pronghorn and Antelope is that the Pronghorn is a species of mammal and Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species.

• Pronghorn

  The pronghorn (UK: , US: ) (Antilocapra americana) is a species of artiodactyl mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the American antelope, prong buck, pronghorn antelope, prairie antelope, or simply antelope because it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and fills a similar ecological niche due to parallel evolution.It is the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae. During the Pleistocene epoch, about 12 antilocaprid species existed in North America. Three other genera (Capromeryx, Stockoceros and Tetrameryx) existed when humans entered North America but are now extinct.

  As a member of the superfamily Giraffoidea, the pronghorn’s closest living relatives are the giraffes and okapi. The Giraffoidea are in turn members of the infraorder Pecora, making pronghorns more distant relatives of the Cervidae (deer) and Bovidae (cattle, goats, sheep, antelopes, and gazelles), among others.

• Antelope

  An antelope is a member of a number of even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a wastebasket taxon (miscellaneous group) within the family Bovidae, encompassing those Old World species that are not cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, or goats; even so, antelope are generally more deer-like than other bovids. A group of antelope is called a herd.

• Pronghorn (noun)

  A North American mammal, Antilocapra americana, that resembles an antelope.

• Antelope (noun)

  Any of several African mammals of the family Bovidae distinguished by hollow horns, which, unlike deer, they do not shed.

• Antelope (noun)

  The pronghorn, Antilocapra americana.

• Pronghorn (noun)

  a deerlike North American mammal with a stocky body, long slim legs, and black horns that are shed and regrown annually.

• Antelope (noun)

  a swift-running deerlike ruminant with smooth hair and upward-pointing horns, of a group native to Africa and Asia that includes the gazelles, impala, gnus, and elands.

• Antelope (noun)

  another term for pronghorn

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