You might not think it to look at them, but pronghorn are really quite remarkable. They seem a little out of place in their modern environment, but that’s to be expected since their story is millions of years old.

Throughout the last ice age, North America teemed with megafauna (aka really really big animals). If you’d taken a casual afternoon stroll, you might have encountered mammoths, giant sloths, giant beavers, dire wolves, and big cats such as the saber-toothed Smilodon and the American cheetah.

Whether or not the American cheetah was truly related to its African counterpart is not known for sure, but they are so named because of similar characteristics. They had a head and legs that were built for running and are thought to have been capable of reaching similar speeds.

The pronghorn evolved alongside these speedy predators and must have been engaged in an evolutionary arms race for hundreds of thousands of years. How do you outrun a cheetah? Easy: run faster.

Because of this, pronghorn evolved to run at incredible speeds. They have been recorded at 55mph* over short distances, and could likely outrun a modern-day African cheetah over slightly longer distances.

These days, there are no cheetahs in Saskatchewan. The pronghorn’s fastest remaining predators are wolves and coyotes, both of which top out at a measly 40mph or so. And so it is that the world’s second-fastest land animal wanders North America, thousands of miles from the only predator on Earth that could put up a good race. That must be nice for peace of mind.

(*For those who like a human reference point: Usain Bolt’s top speed was roughly 27mph).

Pronghorn, Canada