DESCRIPTION: L=3" (7.6cm) including tail. Overall color varies with habitat from tan to gray. Flattened body is fringed with single row of soft spines. The horns on the very back of the head are short (thus its name) compared to the Regal Horned Lizard (see bottom image left).
NATURAL HISTORY: Carnivorous, feeding on arthropods and other small invertebrates. Diurnal. Short-horned Lizards are relatively cold-tolerant, thus occur at higher elevations than other horned lizards. One adaptation they have to living at higher elevations is to retain their eggs within their body and to give birth to live young (see To Lay or Not to Lay Eggs).
Click on thumbnail below for another image: