Horned Lizard
Horned lizards are small lizards found in North America, known for their spiny, rounded bodies.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Phrynosomatidae
Genus: Phrynosoma
Species: Between 16 and 21 species, with three having recognized subspecies
Common Names: Horned Lizard, Horned Toad, Horny Toad, Horned Frog
Horned lizards are typically found in dry climates, such as deserts in the American southwest. While their horns and spines make them look quite fearsome, they are usually very calm and docile animals. They spend most of their time eating ants and basking in the sun, as they are cold-blooded and need to absorb heat to warm up their bodies. During the night, they bury themselves in sand. They are quite good at digging and will often burrow a tunnel to escape predators.
Horned lizards have a unique defense mechanism to ward off potential predators. While they normally rely on their color patterns to help them blend in with their environment, if that doesn’t work they will puff themselves up to appear larger and more threatening. As a last resort, they will engage in a behavior known as autohaemorrhaging, which is a fancy way of saying they will shoot blood out of their eyes!
By increasing the blood pressure in their heads, they can squirt blood through tiny vessels in the corner of their eyes that can travel as far as 5 feet. The blood confuses and disorients predators, and also tastes awful.
Interestingly, not all horned lizard species breed the same way. While some species lay eggs, there are other species that give birth to live young. The more evolved species that don’t lay eggs are believed to have developed this ability independently of each other.
Horned lizards are sometimes called “horned frogs” or “horned toads”, though they are reptiles, not amphibians. This is due to their squat, rounded body and blunted heads, which resemble frogs and toads more than atypical lizard. They also move quite slowly and have relatively short legs, much like a toad.
Their bodies are covered with modified scales that resemble spikes, and they have bony horns on their head. While their spiny bodies may seem like a predator deterrent, their actual purpose is to help them retain water in their desert habitats. Horned lizards have many defenses against predators, but their most effective is their camouflaged body coloration.
Horned lizards are part of the order Iguania, and are believed to have split away from their closest relatives, the sand lizards, about 30 million years ago.
While they are often associated with the deserts of the southwestern United States, horned lizard species are also found as far north as Canada and as far south as Guatemala.
While many horned lizard species are considered of “Least Concern”, it has been observed that many populations of these animals are declining throughout their range.
Possible causes include habitat fragmentation and loss due to increased real estate and road development, pesticides, and predation from pets like cats and dogs. Invasive plant species can also cause problems, as pottedplants may transport fire ant species that harm wildlife and drive out native ant species (horned lizards do not eat fire ants).
The Texas Horned Lizard has now lost about half its original range, due largely to collection of lizards as pets. Most of these lizards unfortunately did not last long due to their highly specific dietary needs.
It has been recommended by certain agencies that the Texas Horned Lizard be placed on the Endangered Species List due to its rapid decline.
References
http://digimorph.org/resources/horned.phtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_lizard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_horned_lizard
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/animals-lizards-reptiles-blood-eyes
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