I met this Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) while touring Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park. There are 14 species of horned lizards in North America. Growing up in the Sonoran Desert I was fascinated by our local horned lizards. I would sit in the dirt and watch them patiently waiting near an anthill. They were so still that ants would walk right over their backs. Life ended in a flash of tongue for any ant foolish enough to walk in front, though.

We used to call them horny toads (because of the protuberances, not because they were randy) which is a reflection of the first part of their binomial which translates as toad-bodied.