Animal and Plant of the Month
Animal of the Month
Plant of the Month

Pronghorn
Antilocapra americana

Showy Milkweed
Asclepias speciosa
Milkweed Family
(Asclepiadaceae)

This morning as we drove around PCC on our monthly bird survey, we spotted four or five pronghorns standing in the grass half a mile away. When we put our binoculars on them to count them, we suddenly discovered a bunch of smaller heads and ears sticking up out of the grass—pronghorn fawns, about eight of them.

Pronghorn does usually give birth to twins. For the first three or four weeks, the fawns hide in the grass while mom moves off 50 to 75 yards to graze. The fawns are born scentless, so coyotes can't sniff them out, and their coloring blends with the prairie grasses so golden eagles have a tough time spotting them.

When mom decides it's time to nurse the fawns, she calls them to her. Then she sends them back to their hiding places. She can't take them to there or she'd leave a scent for a coyote to follow. The fawns aren't completely defenseless, however. At four days, they can already run 25 mph, faster than any human.

Here nearing mid July, the fawns can run fast enough to keep up with the herd and out of the jaws of a coyote. And the does in the nursery herd will run off any coyote that tries to grab a fawn. So keep your eyes open for little pronghorns mixed in with big ones. They are a joy to see.


 

Look for:

  • a plant that is up to 6 feet in height
  • erect and stout stems, covered with dense white hairs
  • flowers that are unusually shaped, arranged in a 5 pointed star shape
  • flowers clustered in umbels, or clusters, whose stalks radiate from a common center
  • as many as 50 flowers per umbel that can have red, pinks or purplish petals
  • large leaves, opposite, soft, and having a prominent red midrib
  • fruit pods that are up to 4 inches in length, covered with knobs and spines
  • these plants flower May thru August


Ecological Facts and Human Uses:

  • These commonly grow in sandy and disturbed areas, along fence rows and roadsides
  • They contain a moderately toxic milky juice and pods containing silky tufted seeds
  • Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves; the larvae consume the toxic foliage making themselves and the adult butterflies less palatable to predators
  • The flower parts are cleverly designed as to trap any insect that visits the flower, making it impossible for the pollinator to get away without carrying some pollen to the next flower it visits
  • Less toxic species (Pleurisy- root, Asclepias tuberosa) are still used today to make teas to treat lung ailments
  • During World War II, the silky down attached to the seeds was used to stuff life jackets, pillows, and flight suits

 

 
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