Wildlife Spotlight: Coast Horned Lizard

Coast Horned Lizard.

The coast horned lizard, also known as the Blainville's horned lizard, is a flat-bodied lizard with a wide oval shape, pointed scales on the upper body and tail, and horns or spines on its head. This lizard can grow up to 4.5 inches in length and is historically found along the pacific coast from Baja California to central California. 

Its earth-tone colors consist of reddish brown, yellow and gray, as well as dark spots and a cream-colored belly, making the lizard a master of camouflage. Female horned lizards are often larger than males and can lay about 6-21 eggs, potentially laying two clutches of eggs in a year.

The coast horned lizard makes its home in grasslands, coniferous forests, woodlands, and chaparral, where they live in sandy soil and low vegetation. Their diet consists mainly of ants and other small invertebrates like spiders, beetles, termites, flies, honeybees, moth larvae and grasshoppers.

The coast horned lizard has a variety of defense tactics including hissing, inflating its body with air making it hard to swallow, biting and jabbing with its horns, altering their color to blend in with its surroundings, and spraying predators with blood from the corner of its eyes as a repellent.

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