Animal Fact Sheet: Texas Horned Lizard

Animal Fact Sheet #3: Texas Horned Lizard
The Texas Wildlife series continues!

It’s well known that horned lizards squirt blood, but there’s more to the story than most assume. While making this factsheet, I found a particularly good article (Bloodshot: why the horned lizard squirts blood from its eyes in self-defense | Awkward Adaptations) on the specifics of this adaptation.

According to various sources, horned lizards can shoot blood to three, four, or five feet.

It didn’t fit on the fact sheet, but the “horned frog” (as it’s called in that context) is also the mascot of the Texas Christian University in addition to the state reptile of Texas.

Photo is from Birds and Nature (1902) by A. W. Mumford & Co. and is public domain.