Horned lizards (Phrynosoma) are a genus of the Phrynosomatidae family of lizards. The horned lizard is popularly called a "horned toad," "horny toad", or "horned frog," but it is neither a toad nor a frog. The popular names come from the lizard's rounded body and blunt snout, which give it a decidedly toad-like or frog-like appearance. (Phrynosoma literally means "toad-bodied.") The spines on the back and sides of this lizard are made from modified scales, whereas the horns on the heads are true horns (i.e. they have a bony core).

Horned lizards carry with them a wide variety of means to avoid predation. Their coloration generally serves as camouflage. When threatened, a horned lizard's first defense is to remain still and hope it avoids detection. If it is approached too closely and is forced to move, it generally runs in short bursts and stops abruptly, hoping to confuse the predator's visual acuity. If this fails, it will puff up its body to cause its spiny scales to protrude, making it appear larger and more difficult to swallow. At least four species also have the ability to squirt an aimed stream of blood from the corners of the eyes for a distance of up to 3 feet. The horned lizard is able to do this by restricting the blood flow leaving its head, thereby increasing blood pressure and rupturing tiny vessels around the eyelids. This not only confuses would-be predators, but the blood is also foul-tasting to canine and feline predators. It appears to have no effect against predatory birds. But the horned lizard has yet more defenses in its bag of tricks should a predator attempt to pick it up. By ducking or elevating its head and allowing its cranial horns to be oriented straight up, or back, the horned lizard can attempt to defeat a predator from taking it by the head or neck. If the predator attempts to take it by the body, the horned lizard will drive that side of its body downward into the ground so that the predator cannot easily get its lower jaw underneath the lizard.

The diet of most horned lizards species varies from 60-90% harvester ants , though they are opportunistic and supplement these with termites, beetles, grasshoppers and other small insects.

Some Native American peoples regarded horned lizards as sacred. The animal is a common motif in the art manyNative Americans in the Southwestern U.S. and in Mexico.


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