It has a short, pointed snout and a broad, flat body. The animal is known for its crown of spines and its large scales. Horned lizards are found everywhere in Texas except for the piney woods. These animals eat a large number of ants as well as grasshoppers and beetles. Although horned lizards are usually gentle animals, they have unique defense mechanisms.
Horned lizards can flatten out and freeze in place when threatened.
They also can inflate their body to twice their size and squirt blood through their eyes to deter predators. The horned lizard was listed as a threatened species in Texas in 1977. The most famous horned lizard was known as Old Rip. During a ceremony, the cornerstone was opened and out jumped a horned toad. The little fella was believed to have lived in the cornerstone from the building's inception.