The Mystical, Near-Mythical Horned Lizard
Story and photographs by Jeremy Garcia
I
don’t understand why people are
so obsessed with unicorns when
we have living, breathing, mythi-
cal creatures right here in West
Texas. Folklore stories are told
around the campfire about these
sacred desert legends, and they’re not
limited to having only one horn.
They’re called horned lizards and
they’re absolutely incredible.
The Texas horned lizard is hands
down the most interesting critter you
can encounter in the Chihuahuan
desert. We should never overlook their
rarity. I’ll pass on the words that many
ranchers have passed on to me, “You
just don’t see them like you used to.”
They’re nostalgic to those who
8
remember them in their heyday, back
when the population was thriving.
Even though the population keeps
rising and falling, specialists believe
they will never go extinct during our
lifetime. It’s the fluctuating population
that actually makes them an extraordi-
nary sight for sore eyes. West Texas is
lucky to have them – in some regions
of Texas they have completely disap-
peared.
Let me brag on them a little. They
resemble dinosaurs, yet they can be
held in the palm of your hand. They
have an intimidating appearance, yet
they’re unusually gentle. Most people
refer to them as horned frogs or horny
toads, but really, they’re not even
Cenizo
First Quarter 2018
amphibians. They’re reptiles.
In fact, the Texas horned lizard was
crowned the State Reptile in 1993, so
they’re more similar to the Nintendo
King Koopa than they are to a frog in
a pond. It’s their toad-like bodies that
have earned them the two popular
nicknames.
The only people who really walk
around calling them horned lizards are
the ones who have done immense
research on the species. Amongst those
national researchers is local Wildlife
Diversity Specialist Russell Martin of
Alpine. He works with Texas Parks
and Wildlife for the Trans-Pecos dis-
trict and covers ground from El Paso
to Midland, to Sanderson and back.
I talked with Russell about the
horned lizards back in July of 2016
when Fort Stockton had an abundance
of the spiked creatures in all corners of
town. In an interview I published for
The Fort Stockton Pioneer newspaper, he
said, “We don’t monitor horned lizard
populations per se; I think all the biol-
ogists just keep an eye out for them,
because we all like to see them.
They’re neat little critters.”
Touching on the increased sight-
ings, he detailed, “The rain has caused
an increase in grass production and
that extra grass production has meant
extra seed production, the extra seed
production leads to increased har-
vester ants, and harvester ants are the