The Texas Horned Lizard was adopted as the Texas state reptile on June 18, 1993. The Texas Horned Lizard is also referred to as the horned toad, horny toad and horned frog and with a lineage that can be traced back to the dinosaurs.
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What is the Texas state reptile?
Horned Lizard
Reptile: Horned Lizard
Most Texans call the state reptile a horny toad, but it is actually a horned lizard.
Does Texas have reptiles?
Lizards are well represented throughout the state, although the greatest diversity occurs in the west. Certainly the most popular of all Texas reptiles is the Texas horned lizard (horned “toad”), Phrynosoma cornutum, one of the three species of horned lizards in the state.
Is the Texas horny toad extinct?
Hopi, Navajo, Papago, Pima, Tarahumara and Zuni cultures portray horned lizards in their ceremonies and stories as symbols of strength. Piman people believe horned lizards can cure them of a staying sickness by appealing to the lizard’s strength and showing their respect to the animal.
What does the Texas horned lizard represent?
coral snake
State snake (the coral snake)? We have a state plant—the prickly pear cactus, deserved—and two state shrubs. The Texas purple sage is native, but the other, the crape myrtle, is not.
What is the Texas state snake?
Red Grapefruit
The Texas State Symbols
| The Symbol of Texas: The Texas Lone Star Flag | The State Flower: The Bluebonnet |
|---|---|
| The State Fruit: The Red Grapefruit | The State Small Mammal: The Armadillo |
| The State Large Mammal: The Longhorn | The State Dish: Chili |
| The State Flying Mammal: the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat | The State Vegetable: The 1015 Onion |
What is the Texas state fruit?
Texas hosts 71 types of amphibians and 160 types of reptiles, ranging from cave-dwelling salamanders and eel-like Amiphiuma to desert snakes and ocean-swimming sea turtles.
How many reptiles are in Texas?
Anoles require greenery, occasional shade, and a moist environment. They prefer to be in trees or shrubs, but can also be found on walls and fences. This lizard is found throughout the eastern third of Texas, and is common in the southeastern U.S.
What are the little lizards in Texas called?
The Texas Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus infernalis) is the largest lizard with limbs in Texas, exceeded in length only by Slender Glass Lizards, which are legless. It is also one of the largest alligator lizards in the world.
Are there legless lizards in Texas?
The vent looks like a horizontal slice across the abdomen on a male’s body, while it is almost nonexistent on the female. Judge the overall size of the tail. A male horny toad will have a large, almost heart-shaped tail. A female has a noticeably smaller, triangular-shaped tail.
How can you tell if a horny toad is male or female?
Sometimes they even roll over and “play dead”. But the most shocking defense technique of horned lizards is their ability to squirt blood from their eyes like laser beams. They can even take aim using muscles in the corners of their eyes.
Do horned toads play dead?
ants
Phrynosoma douglassi
-Although they are often referred to as horny toads, they are, in fact, lizards. -Their main food is ants but they will also eat other small insects. -Horned lizards do not stalk their prey but instead rely on patient waiting, striking out when their prey approaches too closely.
What do horny toads eat?
short-horned lizards
In order to ward off hungry predators, short-horned lizards are capable of inflating their bodies up to twice their size, resembling a spiny balloon. And if this proves insufficient, some species employ one of the animal kingdom’s most bizarre defensive mechanisms: they shoot blood from their eyes.
What animal squirts blood out of its eyes?
Texas horned lizards (and some other species of horned lizards) have a fascinating behavior used to detract predators. When grasped, they close their eyes and the eyelids appear to inflate. They then squirt a directed stream of blood from the sinuses in their eye cavity toward the would-be predator.
What behavior does the Texas horned lizard protect itself?
Despite their name, these formidable-looking lizards with numerous horns on their heads were once common throughout Oklahoma, but have now nearly disappeared due to habitat destruction, pesticides and introduced fire ants. Photo by Robert Burton, USFWS.
Why is the Texas horned lizard endangered?
The Monarch Butterfly was adopted as the Texas state insect on June 16, 1995.
What is Texas state insect?
The Lone Star StateTexas is nicknamed the Lone Star State because in 1836, when the Republic of Texas declared itself an independent nation, it flew a flag with a single star on it.
What is Texas nickname?
Friendship
What is the Texas motto?
Friendship was adopted as the Texas state motto in February 1930. The motto was most likely chosen because the name of Texas or Tejas was the Spanish pronunciation of the local Indian tribe’s word teyshas or thecas meaning friends or allies.
What is the bird of Texas?
Northern mockingbirdThe Northern Mockingbird was adopted as the Texas state bird in 1927. The Mockingbird can sing up to 200 songs including the songs of other birds and sounds from insects and amphibians. It is also very protective of its home, often swooping down at things getting too close to its nest.
What is Texas state gemstone?
Blue Topaz
Texas State Gem – Blue Topaz, Texas State Stone – Petrified Palmwood. The Texas Blue Topaz was adopted as the Texas state gem and Petrified Palmwood as the Texas state stone on March 26, 1969.
