{"id":954,"date":"2022-05-24T16:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T16:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/timberlakeranch\/?page_id=954"},"modified":"2025-06-24T14:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T14:26:10","slug":"texas-horned-lizard-project","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/texas-horned-lizard-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Horned Lizard Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Texas Horned Lizard Project<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"599\" height=\"414\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/Texas-Horned-Lizard.png\" alt=\"Horned lizard on a log.\" class=\"wp-image-956\" style=\"width:324px;height:224px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/Texas-Horned-Lizard.png 599w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/Texas-Horned-Lizard-300x207.png 300w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/Texas-Horned-Lizard-579x400.png 579w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Texas Horned Lizard (<em>Phrynosoma cornutum<\/em>) is the largest and most widely distributed of the roughly 14 species of horned lizards in the western United State and Mexico. The average Texas horned lizard is 69 mm in snout-vent length, but the upper boundary for males is 94 mm and for females it is 114 mm. Although its coloration generally serves as camouflage against predation, when threatened by a predator, a horned lizard puffs up and appears very fat, which causes its body scales to protrude, making it difficult to swallow. The Texas horned lizard also has the ability to squirt an aimed stream of blood from the corners of the eyes and sometimes from its mouth for a distance up to 1.5 m. This not only confuses would-be predators, but also the blood is mixed with a chemical that is foul-tasting to canine predators such as wolves, coyotes, and domestic dogs. This novel behavior is observed to be very effective in defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"501\" height=\"493\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/THL-decline-1.png\" alt=\"Map of Texas showing 10-year trends of THL presence at various sites with a color-coded legend.\" class=\"wp-image-958\" style=\"width:219px;height:216px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/THL-decline-1.png 501w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/THL-decline-1-300x295.png 300w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/THL-decline-1-406x400.png 406w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 501px) 100vw, 501px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This species is vulnerable to environmental changes, especially the loss of harvester ants which comprise up to 69% of their diet. However, the abundance of harvester ants has decreased drastically as a result of introduced fire ants, which are thought to out compete native harvester ants for food and space. The widespread use of insecticides and habitat destruction have also contributed to declines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"465\" height=\"493\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/THL-project-area.png\" alt=\"Aerial view of a forested area outlined in red.\" class=\"wp-image-959\" style=\"width:236px;height:251px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/THL-project-area.png 465w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/THL-project-area-283x300.png 283w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/132\/2022\/05\/THL-project-area-377x400.png 377w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 465px) 100vw, 465px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>REU students will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>conduct a habitat assessment to determine potential relocation sites at TBFS<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>create a population recovery plan for relocated individuals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>generate models of population growth based on mark-recapture data<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas Horned Lizard Project The Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) is the largest and most widely distributed of the roughly 14 species of horned lizards in the western United State &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":580,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-954","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/","display_name":"keegan"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 10 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 24, 2022","modified":"Updated on June 24, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 24, 2022 4:16 pm","modified":"Updated on June 24, 2025 2:26 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","featured_img":false,"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1229,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/954\/revisions\/1229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/timberlake-field-station\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}