Horned Lizard: Species of the Week

Lizards, lizards, lizards.  I love lizards.  I’m not sure which came first: my nickname – Lizzy the Lizard – or my love for reptiles.  I like snakes and amphibians too, but lizards make me especially happy.

First Horned Lizard, Spruce Mountain, Central Arizona

So imagine my joy last weekend when my son spotted what I’ve tentatively identified as a Short-Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) on a hike up Spruce Mountain near Prescott, Arizona.  He said he first heard the rustling in the leaves and then saw movement.  I would have walked past it.   Only about two inches long, it blended in with the dry leaves and soil. We spotted a slightly larger one on the way back down the mountain.

Horned lizards try to avoid predators by keeping still.  This made it easy to snap an embarrassing abundance of photos (one can never have too many lizard photos, right?).  It also makes the horned lizard easy to catch.  As a child, I would have begged my mother to let me take it home, but now I believe it’s best to leave them wild.

I can’t remember ever seeing a horned lizard before, although some species can be found in my home stomping grounds of Oregon and Washington.  So seeing two in one hike during a short trip to Arizona inspired the kind of thrill that this month leads me to write poems:  one last week and another, riffing on a similar theme, this week.

Second Horned Lizard, Spruce Mountain, Central Arizona

Because I’ve wanted to see horned lizards for so long, I thought I knew them, but these facts were new:

• Most prefer to eat ants, and some are picky about which kinds of ants.  In habitats where those ants are disappearing, horned lizards are vanishing too.
• There are diverse species spread throughout the American Southwest and some that range up into southern Alberta.
• Rather than laying eggs, high-altitude species give birth to live young to ensure survival in extreme temperatures.
• Some species squirt blood from their eyes to frighten enemies ( I probably did read about this before but had forgotten it).
• Some, such as the Texas Horned Lizard, are becoming more scarce, partly because of over-collection and partly because of disappearing habitat and food sources.  The Texas Horned Lizard Watch provides a way for state residents to participate in efforts to monitor and protect the animal.

Eric R. Pianka and Wendy L. Hodges provide great comparative information for identifying various species of horned lizards.

For more information on efforts to protect this wonderful creatire, visit the Horned Lizard Conservation Society

If you think the lizards in the photos above are not P. hernandesi, please let me know what they could be.

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