This pronghorn mom and her two babies made a lot of visitors happy by staying between the Roosevelt Arch and the entrance station in late May. I spent a lot of time observing her and her two fawns.
During the time I observed her, she kept the fawns well-separated except on one occasion. I wonder if this is to minimize a predator getting them both. She would visit each one every couple of hours and let them feed for a few minutes and then they would lie down again in a new spot until she returned. They usually stayed perfectly still, but I saw one of them move once. Movement like that can get a young ungulate killed I would think. Each morning I would check to see if they were both there. They were still there when I left the Park on June 1.
I wondered if the mother made a good choice in keeping them where she did. I think so. It’s a rectangular area bordered by roads on all four sides and by buildings on two sides. There is a lot of human activity around there all day. Maybe not as safe at night, but “safe” is a relative term in the pronghorn world.
