Horned lizards best observed in their habitat
Durango Herald June 14, 2004
Jennifer Kleffner

Short-Horned Lizard of SW Colorado

One of the trails at our Nature Center is called Horny Toad Trail. When visitors are lucky, the trail lives up to its name, and they get to see these fascinating members of the reptile world up close.

Emerging in April from their five month hibernation, our local species is more properly called the short-horned lizard. This species has the largest geographic range of all 14 known species, and is found at elevations up to 10,000 feet from southern Alberta Canada south to Durango Mexico.

After emerging from the 12-16 inches of soil in which they have been hibernating, male horned lizards announce their chosen territory with head bobbing displays. When a female enters the area, both will bob their heads briefly before mating. Mating occurs from April to June.

While most reptiles lay eggs, some species of horned lizard have the ability to give live birth (viviparity). The species that do this, including our own short-horned lizard, tend to be found at higher elevations. Scientists believe that this trait has evolved in response to the drier colder climates found in these habitats.

Short-horned lizards give birth to up to 20 young. Babies are born in late July or early August and are about an inch long. Once born they are on their own. The young are able to hunt for food within hours of being born. It takes them up to three years to reach adulthood.

Horned lizards have a diet consisting almost entirely of ants! The lizards will find an ant hill and eat ants one after the other with their sticky tongue. Because ants are mostly indigestible, large numbers must be eaten in order to survive, and the horned lizard has a large stomach to accommodate this unique diet. This large stomach and “sit and wait” eating habit makes them slow moving and vulnerable to predators.

Defenses include excellent camouflage, holding very still, and puffing themselves up with air to appear larger and make their horns stand out. The horns can be quite the formidable defense, and snakes and birds have been found dead with lizards’ horns projecting from their throats! Some species, though not the short-horned lizard, squirt foul tasting blood from their eyes when caught by a predator.

Horned lizards require loose dry soil and lots of ants to survive. When removed from their environment, as often happens when well meaning people decide to take them home as pets, they slowly starve to death. Legislation exists in most states to protect horned lizards from capture and sale into the pet trade. So if you find one of our short-horned lizards, watch closely to see if you can find the ant hill it is feeding on, but don’t remove it from its home.