Gemsbok on red sand dunes

Gemsboks rock

There's a lot about the gemsbok that's big. Over 4 feet tall at the shoulder and boasting horns nearly as long, they're bulky among their antelope brethren. Their herds are huge too—up to 200 animals during the rainy season—and they thunder over a gigantic area, roaming the Namib and Kalahari deserts that stretch from here in Namibia across southern Africa. Avid for any arid environment, this oryx variety isn't limited by geography: After they were introduced in the 1970s for hunting, a strong population still survives in the US state of New Mexico.