Desert Horned Lizard
Phrynosoma platyrhinos
Adults inhabit arid desert basins, sandy flats, bajadas, and open scrub where pale colors help them vanish against gravel and soil. They are mostly sit-and-wait foragers, specializing on harvester ants while also taking beetles and other small arthropods. When threatened they flatten and puff the body, present sharp cranial horns and side spines, bury into sand, and may spray foul-tasting blood from near the eyes. Their broad, pebbly outline can look like part of the desert surface until they suddenly move.
- Type
- Horn / Stealth
- Conservation status
- LC
Growth chain
- ?
- Desert Horned Lizard