First Encounters of the Close Kind: Phrynosoma cornutum

Among the many denizens of the Far West new to the emigrants were bison (not a buffalo),  pronghorn (not an antelope), prairie dogs, "grizzle baers" and a tiny creature called a "horned toad" or "horned frog" (actually a lizard, phrynosoma cornutum).  Some, especially children, thought it was an avatar of the devil.   

In actual fact, the reptile is a most charming creature.  My first and only encounter with one happened in 2010 while volunteering at Bryce Canyon National Park.  Scrabbling in the sand near our cabin, my new friend was searching for Harvester ants from a mound nearby.  Perfect in every respect, with tiny sawtooth ridges at his circumference, he had a little crown of horns at the back of his head.  These horns are, in actual fact, made of bone.

Horned lizard around our cabin, Bryce Canyon National Park, September 2010

The horned lizard is perfectly camouflaged.  While it can scurry around, it is generally slow moving and, if you are gentle, will sit quietly in your hand.  If frightened, the horned lizard has the alarming ability to squirt a stream of blood up to five feet from the corners of its eyes and mouth.  To boot, the blood is mixed with a foul tasting chemical.  A most effective defense against most predators.  The horned lizard is now a protected species, suffering from the pet trade, urban sprawl and pesticides designed to kill its primary food, Harvester ants.

While at Bryce, I found an almost perfect plastic replica of a horned lizard.  I named him "Hoodoo" after the odd totem pole-like rock spires in the park and other southwestern areas.  He sits on my car dashboard, beckoning me onward.  He was my protector and mascot on this overland trip.  Hoodoo -- as in Hoo-Doo-You-Luv.

"The curious may here [at the La Bonte river, near Horse Shoe Creek, Laramie mountains, Wyoming] look out for toads with horns."  J.E. Ware's Emigrant Guide to California, published 1848, p. 21

"There were many miles of weary travelling across deserts and alkali dust that would almost suffocate us, to say nothing of rattlesnakes and horned toads and other reptiles and biting insects."  Elizabeth Drusilla Robinson Smith, sister of my ancestor by marriage, Sarah Ann Robinson Gray, 1849

"Here  we found Horn-frogs....No grass or water during the morning drive.  Reached a branch of 'La Bonte.'"  J. Goldsborough Bruff, July 15, 1849  

Hutching's California Magazine, the first illustrated magazine that popularized the West ~1868