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Any kid will tell you that the cheetah is the fastest land mammal, and that it can sprint for short distances at speeds approaching 70 mph.

Okay, but what’s the second fastest land mammal? I bet it’s something pretty darned fast . . .

It is. The pronghorn of the North American plains is the sole survivor of a mammalian family (Antilocapridae) that once included multiple species of antelope-looking creatures in our temperate grasslands. Pronghorns are supremely adapted for running, both anatomically and physiologically, and they can sprint at least 60 mph – almost cheetah speed. But, pronghorns beat cheetahs over a distance – they can maintain high speeds like that for miles. I’ve read one estimate that pronghorns can maintain about 50 mph over 10 miles! Now that’s speed.

Why so fast? There is no predator in a pronghorn’s environment that really has a prayer of catching a healthy adult pronghorn, but there used to be . . .

Although its taxonomic affinity remains ambiguous, there was a big cat on the American Plains that was convergent with cheetahs in anatomy, probably could run as fast as any African cheetah today, and most likely fed on pronghorns and related American antelopes.

You can read a little more about the American cheetah here, and this link from the National Zoo includes a nice write up on our own American antelope, the pronghorn.