Yes, I know it says “Oryx” in the title of the video.
Gemsbok are species of oryx. There are four species in the genus Oryx, and the Gemsbok is Oryx gazella.
Now, what are they doing in New Mexico?
Well, just like feral horses, feral burros and ring-necked pheasants, these were introduced.
In 1969, the New Mexico Department of Fish and Game introduced them to the White Sands Missile Range.
There are now about 3,000 of them in the Tularosa Basin.
They have very few predators. Cougars don’t seem to be very effective gemsbok predators, and coyotes take only the very young.
They are hunted to control their numbers, but it’s likely that they are here to stay.
And this is in North America, a place with no native antelope or gazelles.
In the East, we’ve spent a very long time making everything look like Europe. In the West, are we trying to make everything look like Africa or Central Asia?
I’d much rather have a lot of pronghorn on that range than gemsbok.
Gemsbok means chamois in Dutch. In Afrikaans, it refers to this species of oryx.
Lots of African antelope are named in this fashion. The eland is named for the Dutch word the elk or moose (Alces, not Cervus). The steenbok is named for the Alpine ibex and the Spanish ibex. The term “bok” (cognate with the English word “buck”) usually refers to a goat, but the term has been expanded to include antelope.