Texas Horned Lizard (“Horny Toad”)

 

Texas Horned Lizard,

Once Ubiquitous in West Texas

In the 1950s when I was a kid, there was almost always a horny toad hanging out in or near the water meter behind our house in Amarillo.  They’re quite docile, despite their fierce appearance.  One horny toad even tolerated my dad interrupting his mid-summer estivation in the water meter by splashing water on its dried out and apparently lifeless body.  After a minute or two, the little fellow slowly unfolded its appendages, shook itself off a bit and walked away!

The lizards’ main food source is red ants (“harvester ants”), and that’s a problem.  Humans have developed great skill at eliminating red ants in the environment and left the horned lizards little to eat.  Inedible fire ants have also displaced red ants in many locations.  Human disruption of the little lizard’s physical environment isn’t helping, either.   There are some programs under way to increase their numbers in the wild, but the success of those programs is still an open question.   

Horned Lizard Facts

More Info from Biology Dictionary

Efforts to Increase Horned Lizard Population

Even More Info

Texas Horned Lizard Images

From FB “You Know You’re from Texas When …