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Gemsbok
(Latin = Oryx gazella , Afrikaans = Gemsbok, German = Südafrikanischer Spiessbock)

Numbers : Fairly high

Weight > 180 - 240 kg

396 - 528 lb

Shoulder height> 120 cm

48 in.

Record Horn Length:

SCI > 47 and six eighths in.

Rowland Ward > 48 and three eights in.

Females horns? Yes, longer than the male’s horns.

Found commonly in the Kalahari dessert (Northern parts of the North Cape), as well as in a much smaller, distinct part of the Northern Province (Ellisras to Alldays districts).

These animals have a incredible capacity to survive in desert conditions. They fill the Kalahari as if they were meant to be the great Artist’s desert paintings in a landscape where few other antelopes would dare to tred. By wonderful design, their blood vessels ensure that the gemsbok have the capacity to cool its blood when passing its nose, from which it enters the brain. They thus flourish in an scorching African environment where other animals would definitely be dead in a day. It uses its hooves for digging, finding water or water-bearing roots underground. The well known picture of some gemsbok wandering on the top of a dune with heat waves blurring the scenes in between, add some spice to a “harsh” part of the South African landscape. The gemsbok is able to defend itself galliantly with those sharp horns. Many a tale is told about the gemsbok, deflecting dangerous objects with those horns or using it as a lance in combat.