Habitat:
It prefers semi-desert areas or hills shaded by some trees

Size:
Both Male and Female 180 to 250 kg.
Shoulder Height: Both Male and Female 115 to 140 cm.
The male's horns are more long and developed.

Behaviour:
It prefers to move mostly early in the morning or in the evening, but sometimes it is possible to see it grazing during the night of full moon. Its enemies are: lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs.

Male-male interactions are aggressive but rarely result in blood-letting or severe injury. Horns are used for "fencing" in these ritualized interactions, which occur most often at waterholes when many individuals come together and space is often limited.

Diet: Feeds on grasses and herbs, juicy roots, fruits, melons, leaves, buds, and bulbs. Can go without water for several days but drink at streams and waterholes when water is available. Oryx are experts at finding water and often dig into dried river beds to access ground water. In dry periods, oryx also dig up fruits and roots containing water.

Reproduction:
A single calf after 9 months of gestation.

Uses: Native Africans have used the tips of gemsbok horns for spear points. Meat can also be eaten and hides can be used for a number of purposes, including shield coverings.

Conservation: Although numbers are relatively high, habitat loss, climatic changes, agriculture, and grazing by domestic livestock do threaten their numbers. Many extirpations of gemsbok populations have occurred from overhunting.

Longevity:
From 18 to 22 years

The heavily built gemsbok has a thick, short neck and is greyish-fawn of colour with distinct black-and-white markings on the head, body and legs. Both rams and ewes have long, rapier-like horns. The gemsbok prefers the open, dry dune country of the arid north-west subregion of southern Africa. The harsh environment forces gemsbok to be nomadic in search of the fresh vegetation growth after rain.

They are predominantly grazers, but also browse on seed-pods and fruits. The species is gregarious and occurs in mixed or nursery herds of 15 individuals. A territorial bull will herd a mixed or nursery herd into his territory and only he will mate with receptive cows. In summer a single calf is born after a gestation of about 264 days and it joins the herd only after 3-6 weeks. (Afrikaans: Gemsbok).