YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Even pronghorn need help with childcare sometimes.
Yellowstone National Park (YNP) photographer Jacob W. Frank snapped this photo of an adult pronghorn with four fawns in tow this month.
Female pronghorn typically breed in the fall and deliver a set of twins in early summer, according to YNP. Newborn fawns are capable of walking within half an hour of birth, and can outrun a human within “a couple of days,” the park’s website states.
In their first weeks of life, young pronghorn tend to stick close to their mother while she grazes, per the park. Once fawns hit three weeks old, they follow their foraging parents.
“Several females and their youngsters join together in nursery herds along with yearling females,” YNP’s website states.
Yellowstone estimates that its pronghorn population falls in the 500 to 600 range.
