Frontal view of an odd Pronghorn buckFrontal view of an odd Pronghorn buck

Yesterday while looking for birds to photograph out on Antelope Island State Park I photographed this Pronghorn and through my viewfinder I could see two horny growths on its muzzle and wasn’t sure what they were, then I discovered that they might be extra horn growths. In this frame the Pronghorn buck looks fairly normal as it chews on some food, but looking closely there are two very dark spots on the ridge of its muzzle.

Side view of an odd Pronghorn buck showing two extra horns on its muzzleSide view of an odd Pronghorn buck showing two extra horns on its muzzle

This image shows a side view of the Pronghorn buck’s face with the two unusual horn growths shown protruding from its muzzle. I did some research on line after I arrived home and found two articles of interest.

The first is from the San Diego Zoo:

Occasional specimens have extra horns or teats, females may or may not have horns, and some females have a different type of uterus than others (O’Gara, 1968).

The second is from a taxidermy forum:

4 horned pronghorn
This response submitted by mike d on 1/8/06 at 7:47 PM. ( the_taxidermistatyahoo.com ) 68.116.65.86
Not as uncommon as you might think!
I do about 30 to 35 goats a year and probably 1/3
of them have extra “horns”.
There is a bone knob right behind the horn that they grow over.
Pronghorn can have extra “horns” most anywhere on their heads;
I have mounted a bunch with these 1″ nubs behind the ears.
They usually are not any longer than the hair around them, so are not visible until you start looking the head over after the animal is down.
The oddest one I ever did had a 1 1/2″ horn on the bridge of the nose, like a rhino!

Close up image of a Pronghorn buck showing the extra horns on its muzzleClose up image of a Pronghorn buck showing the extra horns on its muzzle

I’ve seen Pronghorn with deformed horns, but never anything as unique as this. I didn’t know until yesterday that Pronghorn can grow extra horny growths and although these are small they appear to be made of the same keratinous material as this buck’s regular horn sheath.

You just never know what oddities you might see while wandering around photographing nature.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Pronghorn photos plus facts and information about this species.