The Short Horned Lizard (or The Horny Toad)

The short horned lizard is an interesting animal. It lives in dry, rocky, desert areas from Arkansas to the Pacific coast. They are carnivores and eat only bugs and mostly harvester ants. Though the harvester ant is a prey of the toad, the ant has little pincers that contain venom which can harm the toad, and if one is swarmed with ants they can kill it. Luckily the toad has an antibody in it that stops the venom from harming it very much. Some predators of the horny toad are roadrunners, coyotes, wild dogs, hawks and large snakes. The horny toad can kill small snakes when defending their eggs and territory, but won’t eat them. The Short Horned Lizard gets its name from the small horns on its back which help when defending itself from predators. Another cool prey adaptation is when threatened the toad can squirt blood from its eye for up to a meter in any direction. It does this to confuse and distract predators so the predator will either run away or it can make a quick getaway. If you want to see the horny toad click HERE. (by Keller)