by Jane Manaster, NTMN Class of 2013

You see them here, you see them there, you see them almost everywhere. Except you don’t. Not anymore. Horned lizards (a.k.a. horny toads) once roamed through Texas but for several reasons those living in the wild have pretty much abandoned the State, except for in the far west where they are seen occasionally. But all is not lost: diligent teams at the Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio zoos are breeding them by the score to release in safe wildlife expanses.

Seventeen species in the United States range from Kansas to California. Their full range extends from southern Canada to southern Mexico. They roam the desert spaces of the American southwest. Their Texas habitat is diminished by urbanization, more homes and businesses for the human population is at their expense. Each lizard supposedly needs six acres with vegetation and shade for comfort and safety. Other causes of loss include shortage of their staple harvester ants diet which tend to fall victim to insecticides, or being in the way of cars on the highway, or getting in the path of household pets and, though not so much now as in California a century ago, they are collected by kids (then paid a nickel apiece) by entrepreneurs who transformed them into curios as gifts.  

Yesterday’s kids, who are grandparents now, remember boys waving them by the tail to chase fake-screaming girls round the school playground. At a long-ago boy scout jamboree in Valley Forge a troop of West Texas kids ‘accidentally’ released their show-and-tell horny toads to the likely dismay of parents seeing their campers’ souvenirs. 

Texas Horned Lizard photo courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife

Horny toads cannot claim to be beautiful. However, they are endearing. The most recognizable species is the Texas horned lizard, Phrynosoma cornutum, the image on our automobile license plate raising money for Texas Parks and Wildlife programs. If, by an extraordinary chance you see one on your hiking trail, DON’T TOUCH. It is illegal to do so in Texas.

Anyone who is captivated may Google ‘horned lizard’ or ‘horny toad’ to find out more.  Learn how they can be tracked by trained dogs or located from a teeny-tiny radio transmitter for scientific research, spit blood up to seven feet from a gland below their eyes or inflate their round bodies when predators threaten, how they can snuggle down in the dirt at night, never making a sound… just staring a little disconcertingly. 

Better yet, check out the website and perhaps join the Horned Lizard Conservation Society to keep this distinctive, absolutely harmless creature a member of our natural world.