This oryx says differently. Photos shot in a national park in Namibia.

Oryx aren't afraid of much.

Where I used to control predators out on a govt missile range, some of the guys out there saw an oryx with a mountain lion stuck on his horns. They said it carried the lion around for a few days before it came off.

LOL, I've repeatedly heard the Gemsbok is the most deadly accurate animals with their horns in all of Africa, that Oryx could have shish-ka-bobbed that damn runt if it wanted.

The badger's been smokin too much pot or something. Why on Earth would that thing take on something with that kind of head gear?

Must be a young inexperienced Honey Badger, they usually go for the gonads.

That's their survival strategy, i.e., utter fearlessness in the face of death. As a result of this attitude, most large predators steer way clear of them if they've had even one past experience with one.

In fact, this is why baby cheetahs have a color pattern matching a honey badger, i.e., to steal the benefit that species has earned with its ferocity in the face of death, i.e., when large predators see cheetah cubs from a distance away, they will believe they are seeing some honey badgers, and will take a different route to their destination so as to give them a wide berth, thus reinforcing the color pattern in juvenile cheetahs (i.e., those cheetahs that don't produce offspring with that color pattern will have a greater degree of trouble raising offspring to adulthood, and will be less able to pass that survival disadvantage to the next generation).

Eight years ago on MacGregor there was one with a coyote skewered on his horns. The game wardens tried to find it but by the time they did the coyote corpse had fallen off.

A couple of people in this thread mentioned oryx in the context of American predators (mountain lion and coyote). Aren't oryx African animals? What are they doing in North America with mountain lions and coyotes?

White sands Missle Range has had oryx for quite a while.

A bit more than 8 years ago (maybe 15?) I had a tag and saw a skewered coyote on an oryx.

They've been imported for hunting and/or game parks. I'm told that quite a few game ranches in TX have them.

Huh. You wouldn't think introducing invasive species would be permitted. Don't we have enough native species of ungulates for hunting?

....killing them evidently....

Thr where have you been the last 50 years or so?
You can hunt african plains game through out the south west US,
And I heard there is a game farm in Florida with huntable cape buffalo

This was on MacGregor as well. Couple of the Range Riders there were telling me about it. Those old guys were pretty salty. They did away with them now.

The military is really using MacGregor more and more. I've seen some pretty interesting stuff out there.

Here's the history of them there.

http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/download/education/conservation/wildlife-notes/mammals/oryx.pdf

They migrate too.

Killed some on the Texas ranch in Hudspeth Co. (No season, no bag limit in Texas. Non Game animal.)

Archaeologist son spent one whole summer doing surveys all over White Sands. Said the were tripping over gemsbok everytime they turned around. Only other thing thet saw in abundance was hunters looking for em. And being asked if they had seen any! LOL. Said they usually did 15-20 miles a day on foot.

Thank you for your reply. I never knew any of that. You learn something new everyday.

I took this picture in 2017 inside a high fence in South Texas when I was there for a pig hunt. It's a magnificent animal. About the size of a horse.

Looks like something on a cave painting.

Last time I was down to Rio7’s we were out looking for pigs and spotted a bunch of buzzards and the smell of death. We were all prepared for a human body but we found a gemsbok that had been killed in a fight with another gemsbok.

victoro,

Fwiw, the famous author ROBERT C. RUARK said that American women have that in common with the honey badger. - In my experience, he was 100% CORRECT.

yours, tex

To All,

Within a year, there will be wild RHINOS running loose on several TX ranches, according to the early morning Allan Warren Hunting Show on WOAI AM Radio on Saturday mornings.

What I'm wondering is WHEN, rather than IF, the rhinos will be out on the roads & causing traffic fatalities, as other invasives are.

yours, tex

Looks photoshopped......

Honey badger ain’t scared

TRH - do you hunt?

Barry, once on Pasture Ridge above and east of Alomogordo I saw a cow buffalo or two. Close.

Gemsbok is certainly kicking the little honey badgers arse but if the sizes were reverse I doubt the Gemsbok would stand it’s ground much less go on the attack. The honey badger is a badass and the Gemsbok is still dinner on the hoof.

Don't know any thing about Honey Badgers, but a Gemsbok will put up a hell of a fight if wounded, a Gemsbok killed a ranch hand a few miles west of us about 5-6 years ago, we kill about 20 Gemsbok every year and I have danced with a couple of wounded ones, the old saying " Bring Enough Gun" comes to mind. Rio7

Took this one out there below the mountains.

Beautiful, I didn't know they were that BIG

That is a dandy. Nice bull.

Saw these photos a few months ago. From Namibia IIRC. The honey badger was euthanized and confirmed to have rabies.

New Mexico?

Yessir.

Was on a hunt in the Texas Hill Country a number of years ago and went to a high fenced operation to see what all they had. They had just about everything on that place and some very nice trophies if you could afford them. Saw a number of cape buffalos and a large herd of zebras.

As we headed back to the brand new pickup we road in I asked the guy what the meanest critter on the place was and he pointed to an Eland watching us from about 100 yards off.

He said that Eland was why he had a shiny new truck. He had been showing potential customers like us around and one guy tried to get closer to the eland to get a better picture. The eland charged, they all jumped in his truck and the eland beat the truck to a pulp. He said there had been many events with that eland and he was willing to drop the price if someone would shoot the dang thing. Was too high a price for me as I'd of had to buy a bigger freezer too.

He also said, "If he charges right now he would shoot the first guy to head towards his new truck!" I think he was serious.

Seven_Heaven,

Tell your friend that I have a 9.3x62mm Remington pump-rifle & the ability to deal with his "eland problem". = 286 grains of .366 JSP at 2400FPS will take a Cape Buff quite handily & solve rogue Elephant problems, too.

yours, tex

One story I heard was of a famous pistolero that had been dispatched to the 777 Ranch to kill a Gemsbok that had killed a worker there and had part of the workers shirt entangled in his horns.

Another was from a PH in Africa that had come up on a Gemsbok caught in a snare, as they pitched small rocks at the Gemsbok to gauge his awareness, he simply batted the rocks away with his horns, how's that for accuracy?

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but come on guys, this is so [bleep] "photoshopped" it isn't funny. E.g., look at the remainis of the HB that has apparently been moved, in the fake dust in pic 2. It's right in front of the Oryx. There may have been some interaction between the two, but this photo series isn't it.

Well, hell, looking further, maybe it is real. Damn, I need to do something better with my time...

same thought.

Maybe the little guy wanted to learn how to fly.

The pics came from Foxnews. If they're fake, they fooled them, too. OTOH, those might be shadows in the dust.

I don't know if that's actually true or not. I know an evolutionary article was written years ago regarding a similarity, but with around a 90% mortality, it doesn't appear to do much and most predators readily kill them if they find them.

To have a survival advantage, it only needs to save a small percentage of them, not all or even most.

Suggests the pictures mean rabies

https://africageographic.com/blog/honey-badger-dont-care/

Couple years back I helped a friend get his dream rifle by dropping not so subtle hints to his wife for over a year and playfully raising it up now and then and finally I found him, a great deal.. It was a 270 ( shut up) Rem in a stainless \walnut Weatherby Vanguard to use in lieu of his or his grandfathers 243 ( that I redid for him). He is a half a box a year guy but I chipped in for a scope that I mounted and helped him with a load and settled on 150's. Good thing and after reading this you might think he owes me! So outside of Glen Rose, next to a high dollar game ranch on one side and a huge high fence private ranch on the other is what is now our lease. First year hunting with the Weatherby he was leaving his stand and upon shutting his door noticed something big moving. His game camera showed nearly all activity had ceased for about a week and this was why. Turns out a huge trophy Eland was walking past. He fired a neck shot and it took off. To his credit he found an opening where he thought it would reappear and fired a second round that dropped it. Night approached and he was alone and out of cell service. He tried to turn it over but feared it would roll and pin him. This guy is a rancher used to big critters. I got a pic of him carrying it off in his John Deere(..coulda been his Kubota) but it hung out both sides of the bucket and handily outweighed his largest heiffer. Didn't have to leave the county let alone country- or pay for an exotic hunt.

Amazimg animals.

Depending on the area they are called Oryx, Gemsbok, or Gemsbuck. I shot one in So, Africa and it was called a Gembok. I grew in in Alamogordo and we called the Oryx. Very attractive animal IMO.

While that is true, similarity doesn't always mean mimicry. If you can find that article it's interesting but IIRC, states it's a possible case. Sure it's possible, but I don't think it can be said for sure.

I got to Elk hunt with our old friend EddyBo from her at the 'Fire one year across the road from White Sands, he as well as the local guide Wayne said, "If you see one of those, SHOOT IT" they're highly unpredictable and a horse cant outrun one either if they want to swarm you.

I bull gemsbok is about 75% the size of a big bull elk. They are not even close to horse size. However at a distance I can see how they might apppear that big because of their body shape.

I’ve had honey badges lick the blood off the tires of a land cruiser and when the blood taste runs out they chew through the tire looking for more. I personally watched one go around as a cruiser drive away several times before letting go of the tire. Then shook it off and trotted away. I’ve watched them stack rocks along a wall to climb up high enough to get over the wall.

They have the ability to work out problems with logic unlike most animals. They have unmatched determination and fear no living thing on earth. Another professional hunter told me of a honey badger clinging to the end of an elephants trunk holding on and preventing that cow from moving must be like a nose ring in a bull.

Never EVER underestimate a honey badgers will, determination, or aggression.

The PH's and landowner I hunted with in Namibia told me the same thing of the tenacity of a honey badger. They are amazing animals. Then again, Africa is full of amazing animals!

African wolverines is what they remind me of

I believe they are all Oryx but the larger sub-specie is the Gemsbok. There are a number of different varieties of Oryx on the planet.

You're right, it can't be said for sure. It's certainly plausible, but it's a largely untestable hypothesis, as most, if not all stories of mimicry are.

I personally think the American badger is the meanest in the land- only because honey badgers aren't found here and in the morning I have a badger to remove from its hole in the lawn. I do not relish the thought as my last experience with a badger was a surprise at only a couple of feet. I have a healthy respect for them and dearly hope it leaves but this animal re-opened the hole after I covered it a few days ago. It will be Caddyshack time in the morning.

Yes, they are very similar, and seem to have adopted a similar path in terms of survival strategy. They are not closely related, though, as wolverines are large weasels, while honey badgers aren't in the weasel family.

Different oryx but, I know one of the scimitar horn Oryx killed one of the bull Red Deer/elk hybrids up on cousins game ranch. Broke off a horn.

In the larger animals anyway. Some are more obvious than others, particularly in insects.