Untitled Pronghorn by Ernest Thompson Seton. Highlights of the Academy collection of Seton Drawings and Paintings. Academy for the Love of Learning. All image rights reserved.
ALL# 0738 Printed image on paper with signature; background gouache painting.6.5 x 4.4 cm. Undated.
This is one of several Pronghorn studies included in the Academy collection. Three similar ones are included in Vol. III of Lives of Game Animals. Someone (Seton?) painted in the white highlights on a halftone image. This drawing may well have been reproduced somewhere, but if so, I have not found it.
In Lives, Seton cites experts who claim that prior to the arrival of Europeans, the population of this unique animal could have reached between thirty and forty million. Contemporary sources come up with similar estimates. The pronghorn likes to roam; fences are the enemy and have, along with drought and habitat loss, reduced populations to a fraction of the original size.
Seton uses the common name of “Antelope,” for this animal, although the North American family Antilocapridae is not related to the many African antelope species. The Pronghorn has two hooves on each foot, indicating a shared common ancestor with the Giraffe. Seton noted the foot similarity to the African animal.