April 5, 2006
Reluctant Charmers with Fearsome Looks
Book Review
Horned Lizards: The Book of Horny Toads, Revised Edition
By Jane Manaster
Texas Tech University Press
Lubbock, 2002 84pp.
ISBN 0-89672-495-6 paperback
Introduction to Horned Lizards of North America
By Wade C. Sherbrooke
University of California Press
Berkeley, 2003 178 pp.
ISBN 0-520-22827-8 paperback
In the Navajo culture, there is a specific category of puns just about Horned Lizards, or horny toads. The reason, so I've been told, is a little bit synonym and a little bit nickname: The Navajo word for the maternal Grandfather is shicheii. Their word for Horned Lizard is Na’asho’ ii dich’izhii, meaning scratchy or prickly lizard, but children use the nickname shicheii, partly because of the pun provided by shicheii/dich’izhii, and partly encouraged by adults happy to pass along timeless jokes to the kids.
Story Number One: Junior comes running up to grandma under the shade ramada, and breathlessly exclaims,”Grandmother! Grandfather just got run over by a car!” From the viewpoint of an 8 year old, hilarity ensues, as the child leads the adult to the flattened Horned Lizard on the pavement.
Story Number Two: Mother asks the tardy, possibly delinquent child “where have you been?”
The child replies, brightly, “I’ve been playing with Grandfather!” Depending on the child’s age and attitude, the knowing mother can continue stirring the mutton stew and give her approval for spending quality time with an elder, or she can try to trap the youngster by asking something like, “Oh. So that wasn’t your Grandfather who visited me this morning?”, or she can turn and give the child a swift whack with a wooden spoon while offering choice words about deceitfulness.
Horned Lizards were favorite playthings when I was knee-high to everything and living in the rolling prairies of Kansas. The poor horny toads didn’t like the idea of being captured, but once in the hand, they seemed happy enough to sit still and soak up the warmth from a palm, at least for a while. Unlike most reptiles or amphibians, they were calm enough to allow very close and sustained scrutiny. When looking at them, it was clear that they were looking right back.
Horned Lizards are endangered in many places, but they seem to be making a modest comeback in Northern Arizona. Based on casual observation, the local species (Phrynosoma hernandesi, the Greater Short-horned Lizard) has become common again, at least between 7000 and 9000 ft elevation.
Of thirteen recognized species of Horned Lizards, eight range in the United States, and six of these can be found in Arizona, five within 100 miles of Flagstaff. Flagstaff only sees the Short-horned, but the Desert Horned Lizard occurs around Kingman and the Arizona Strip, while in the Verde Valley you may find the Regal Horned Lizard, who is primarily a denizen of the Sonora Desert.
There are many intriguing aspects to Horned Lizard evolution which demonstrate multiple aspects of Evolutionary Theory, such as their co-evolutionary connection to Harvester Ants, their convergent evolution with the “Thorny Devils” of Australia, their fascinating adaptive radiations through North America, including ancient “conserved” traits, such as a pineal eye; intermediate traits, such as egg-laying in some species, live birth in others; and rapid selection for spinyness depending upon variation in predators. They are a living laboratory for cryptic coloration, hunting, and hiding adaptions, both physiological and behavioral.
I have only seen one individual horny toad perform the famous blood-from-the-eyes trick. I personally photo-documented a Desert Horned Lizard getting all medieval on a Chuckwalla three times its size in the Mojave Desert, complete with gaping mouth, lunging, agitatedly wagging its backend back and forth, and biting. Of course the Chuckwalla may have been thinking “probably tastes like chicken”, which in turn may have motivated the Horned Lizard to take it to the next level. The contest ended in a draw, by the way. The horny toad looked worse than Rocky, but the Chuckwalla had a bloody lip.
Horned Lizards have a long cultural connection with Native Americans, which is not surprising considering the lizard's normally docile behavior. Horned Lizards are prominent in the oldest and youngest of the Sinagua petroglyphs in Picture Canyon. They are a major motif in prehistoric Mimbres and Casa Grandes, traditional Navajo, and modern Mata Ortiz pottery decoration. Zuni has had, at least in the past, an important Horned Lizard Medicine society. Virtually all material cultures that had contact with Horned Lizards left physical records of these reptiles.
While Horned Lizards are well-represented in the scientific literature, not too many books are out there. Two good but very different guides are available to Master Naturalists.
Horned Lizards: The Book of Horny Toads, Revised Edition, by Jane Manaster, covers a wide ranging variety of topics associated with these animals as a group. She covers major aspects of biology and distribution, but her particular forte’ is her collection of cultural information on Horned Lizards. There is great accounting of Native American information on these lizards. Then there is excellent material on the contacts by Spanish explorers, including reproductions of drawings from early reports. This is also true for her material on early North American explorers, and their often humorous efforts to share these lizards with people on the east coast or Europe.
Manaster discusses modern interactions with Horned Lizards and American society and Pop Culture, ranging from attempts to export them for pest control, to exploiting them as novelties. There is a good section on current research and conservation efforts, and a very good readings and bibliography sections.
Although Manaster has excellent color photos and B&W reprints of historical records, it is not the definitive guide to Horned Lizard biology or ecology. That would be the Introduction to Horned Lizards of North America by Wade C. Sherbrooke. Part of the California Natural History Guides series, this practical field guide resembles the best birding books in its preparation, starting with a scale on its water-resistant cover for measuring your encounters. It provides a multitude of color photographs, including a photo-compare gallery, head profiles, and a key to help identify Horned Lizards. There are excellent individual species accounts which include range maps. The second half of the guide provides an excellent rendition of the natural history of Horned Lizards, ranging from parasites to pediatrics. There are excellent chapters on always fascinating evolutionary innovations. A final chapter on cultural impacts includes photographs of representative sculpture and drawings. Sherbrooke has written extensively on Horned Lizards and other desert reptiles, and he provides an excellent reference section for anyone who wants to take this subject further.
Hart Prairie, on the side of the San Francisco Peaks, has a small zone at the foot of Fern Mountain which the Short Horned Lizards favor so much that carved signs warn visitors about the “Horned Lizard Crossing”. When The Nature Conservancy gives its walks through the preserve, finding a Horned Lizard is almost guaranteed. Usually, it is a youngster who makes the find, and the catch. I am happy to see these approachable lizards become common again. The connection to the landscape and ecology becomes palpable in the visitors. After finding a Horned Lizard, I often see people scanning the grasses and meadows, perhaps wondering what other little monsters they may have been missing. It’s as if the shrews and sandworts and all the other small hidden things mentioned on the walk have been proven real by this one representative. If you are looking for a focus for your personal development as a naturalist, this animal is an extraordinary teacher. Either or both of these inexpensive guides will lead you into a topic that will entertain forever.