Texas Horned Lizard

The Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) is one of roughly twenty species of horned lizard native to North America, found across south-central states such as Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico and into northeastern Mexico. It has a flattened, spiny body crowned with two prominent head horns plus smaller horns and spikes along its brow, jaw, and back, and its coloring shifts between yellow-brown and tan-brown to match desert or prairie soils. Roughly seventy percent of its diet consists of harvester ants, supplemented with other insects. Populations have declined sharply across much of its range, and the species is legally protected in Texas even though the IUCN still assesses it as Least Concern.