Horned lizards can squirt blood from their eyes
Phrynosoma—horned lizards, horny toads, or horntoads—are flat-bodied North American lizards whose 'toad' nickname reflects sluggish camouflage more than kinship. At least eight species can aim a blood stream from the eye corners up to about five feet when pressed.
The genus name means toad-bodied. Like true toads, these lizards often freeze, relying on cryptic colour in arid and semi-arid habitats from Canada to Guatemala. Some species rain-harvest: water hitting dorsal scales is channelled toward the mouth by capillary action between scales, a trick shared with Australia's unrelated thorny devil. First defence is stillness; then short confusing dashes. If seized, they tilt cranial horns upward or press the body into soil so predators cannot get a clean grip.
Blood-squirting species include Phrynosoma asio, cornutum, coronatum, ditmarsi, hernandesi, orbiculare, solare, and taurus. They constrict blood flow from the head until pressure ruptures thin vessels near the eyes, aiming as far as about 1.5 metres. Current research finds the distasteful chemistry already circulating in the blood—possibly linked to a heavy diet of venomous harvester ants—rather than being freshly added by ocular glands. Canids and felids often find the spray aversive.
Despite protective laws, populations keep shrinking under habitat loss, conversion to monoculture grass, and collection for the pet trade. Introduced fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) do not feed horned lizards and instead prey on them and displace native ants these lizards need. Texas named Phrynosoma cornutum its state reptile in 1993; Wyoming's state reptile is the greater short-horned lizard. Texas Christian University and Coalinga High School both use horned-lizard mascots. The Reptile Database recognises twenty-one valid species.
Source: Horned lizard
