DESCRIPTION: L=4" (10cm) including tail. Overall color varies with habitat from tan to reddish-brown to gray. It has a flattened body fringed with one row of soft spines. The horns on the back of the head are all long (in contrast to Short-horned Lizard).
NATURAL HISTORY: Feeds mainly (up to 90%) on Harvester Ants, which they pick up with their tongue while standing next to the harvester ant nest or trail. Ants are mostly indigestible chitin, thus horned lizards must eat a lot of ants to make a meal. This requires a large stomach which is hard to lug around; therefore, horned lizards are relatively slow moving and rely on their cryptic coloration and horns for defense. However, when threatened, Regal Horned Lizards may rupture small capillaries around their eyes and squirt a bloody fluid that has been found to especially irritate canines such as coyotes. They are usually diurnal. They lay eggs (see To Lay Eggs or Not to Lay Eggs).
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