";s:4:"text";s:3258:" It can be found in southeastern Oregon, California, western Arizona and Utah, and Nevada. This desert lizard might be small but its creepy way of using spines and shooting blood …
Horned lizards, also known as horny toads or horntoads is a North American lizard.
If threatened by predators, horned lizards will squirt blood from the eyes. It has a blood shooting defense that shoot from the corners of the lizard’s eyes that can scare its predators away. The horned lizard then uses the bulging ocular sinuses to draw the debris away from the rear of the eye and onto the eyelid. This ruptures capillaries near the corners of its eyes and a jet of blood squirts from each, as far as 1.5 metres (five feet). The desert horned lizard (P. platyrhinos) is found mostly in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts. The horns on the body are scales while those on the head are actual horns (i.e. they have a bony core). These horns serve not only as a defense mechanism but also guide water toward their mouth when it's raining. The horned lizard can interrupt the blood’s return journey and keep it trapped in the head. Blood continues to flow into the eye area where it fills the ocular sinuses with blood. Most species can burst blood vessels near their eyelids to squirt blood at their predators. It's meant to confuse would-be predators including birds, coyotes and snakes. Horned lizards, also known as horny toads or horntoads is a North American lizard. Once the lizard floods its sinuses with blood, as described above, the skin surrounding the eyelids expands, dislocating the … It has a marked effect on mammalian predators like dogs and coyotes, but usually doesn’t work on birds—which are known throughout the animal kingdom as stone-cold killers. Horned Lizard Distribution. Four species are also able to squirt an aimed stream of blood (with a very unpleasant taste) from its eyes to protect itself. The blood defense is necessary when being held or being disturbed. The natural location of the Horned Lizard is in many areas of Mexico and in the Western part of the United States. The photo shows an adult with blood around the eyes. 3–4 inches or 117 mm in length from nose to tail as a full adult. Our little sharpshooter aims for the animal’s eyes and mouth. Dave and Jeremy highlight an incredibly unique lizard known as the horned lizard. These horns serve not only as a defense mechanism but also guide water toward their mouth when it's raining. Though it has spikes all around its body, the regal horn's main defense is the ability to squirt blood from its eyes.