Pronking Pronghorn
We've got a new animal joining the WolfQuest gang: pronghorn!
Pronghorn, sometimes called American antelope (though they’re not actually antelope) are fairly common animals in the northern range of Yellowstone. We’ve seen them many times in our trips there. But for WolfQuest, they’ve been lower priority for one simple reason: wolves don't eat them very much. Why not? Because they're very hard to catch! Pronghorns evolved in the very different world of the Pleistocene, when they had to outrun much faster predators, like the American Cheetah. Those predators went extinct long ago — but the pronghorn keeps on going, sprinting as fast at 55 mph (90 km/h).
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
But we’ve finally gotten to it, and this week’s devblog gives you a first look at our pronghorn. Created by a new artist on our team, Lise from Sweden, these pronghorn will be found in the Lamer Valley and lower-elevation grasslands. Like mule deer and elk, pronghorns form herds of different sizes and compositions over the course of a year. In the winter, they head to lower elevations and you won't find many around in the game map — which isn’t much of a problem, since wolves don't generally bother hunting adults. It's the fawns that are a more tempting target, both as newborns hiding in the grass, and later in the summer when they are ambulatory — not easy
to catch, but possible.
Other interesting things about pronghorn:
* They are distantly related to deer, and much more closely related to giraffes and okapi.
* Bucks have a pronged horn, while does have just a little stubby horn, if any at all. Generally, animals with horns keep them year-round, but pronghorns shed their horns each winter and then grow it back in the spring.
* The fastest land animal in the western hemisphere, pronghorns can sprint 55 mph (90 km/h) for half a mile (800m), and they can run 42 mph (68 km/h) for a mile (1.5km), and can sustain 35 mph (56 km/h)) for four miles (6.5km). In contrast wolves (and elk) usually run about 35 mph (56 km/h), with somewhat faster sprints for short durations.
* When detecting danger, pronghorns raise the hair on their rumps, making it a larger white area that alerts the herd of the threat.
Pronghorns will be in the next game update, but that won’t be for awhile. We have much still to do on them, along with many other things currently in-progress. But it won’t be too long before you too, can watch that white rump recede into the distance as it flees from your wolf.
Recommended videos:
* Wolf chasing a pronghorn fawn (and check out other great Yellowstone wildlife videos on the "Yellowstone Twins" YouTube channel).
* Pronghorns: Experts in Speed and Sight from American Prairie.
_________________________
The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!
Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will turn our attention to other platforms.
We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready.
Pronghorn, sometimes called American antelope (though they’re not actually antelope) are fairly common animals in the northern range of Yellowstone. We’ve seen them many times in our trips there. But for WolfQuest, they’ve been lower priority for one simple reason: wolves don't eat them very much. Why not? Because they're very hard to catch! Pronghorns evolved in the very different world of the Pleistocene, when they had to outrun much faster predators, like the American Cheetah. Those predators went extinct long ago — but the pronghorn keeps on going, sprinting as fast at 55 mph (90 km/h).
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
But we’ve finally gotten to it, and this week’s devblog gives you a first look at our pronghorn. Created by a new artist on our team, Lise from Sweden, these pronghorn will be found in the Lamer Valley and lower-elevation grasslands. Like mule deer and elk, pronghorns form herds of different sizes and compositions over the course of a year. In the winter, they head to lower elevations and you won't find many around in the game map — which isn’t much of a problem, since wolves don't generally bother hunting adults. It's the fawns that are a more tempting target, both as newborns hiding in the grass, and later in the summer when they are ambulatory — not easy
to catch, but possible.
Other interesting things about pronghorn:
* They are distantly related to deer, and much more closely related to giraffes and okapi.
* Bucks have a pronged horn, while does have just a little stubby horn, if any at all. Generally, animals with horns keep them year-round, but pronghorns shed their horns each winter and then grow it back in the spring.
* The fastest land animal in the western hemisphere, pronghorns can sprint 55 mph (90 km/h) for half a mile (800m), and they can run 42 mph (68 km/h) for a mile (1.5km), and can sustain 35 mph (56 km/h)) for four miles (6.5km). In contrast wolves (and elk) usually run about 35 mph (56 km/h), with somewhat faster sprints for short durations.
* When detecting danger, pronghorns raise the hair on their rumps, making it a larger white area that alerts the herd of the threat.
Pronghorns will be in the next game update, but that won’t be for awhile. We have much still to do on them, along with many other things currently in-progress. But it won’t be too long before you too, can watch that white rump recede into the distance as it flees from your wolf.
Recommended videos:
* Wolf chasing a pronghorn fawn (and check out other great Yellowstone wildlife videos on the "Yellowstone Twins" YouTube channel).
* Pronghorns: Experts in Speed and Sight from American Prairie.
_________________________
The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!
Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will turn our attention to other platforms.
We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready.