Category

Texas Horned Lizard

The Texas horned lizard is a much-loved small reptile that appears to have declined in numbers and range (particularly in the eastern part of the state), likely due to fire ants, feral cats, Old World grasses, insecticides, roads, traffic, and the pet trade. Fortunately, however, it has been the subject of several recent captive breeding and release projects.

Interviews

Narrator: Bill BrooksTitle: Old RipDuration: 00:03:43Date: August 11, 2023Bill Brooks is a naturalist and former staff member of the Biopsychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin. He has been interested in horned lizards for many years, serving as both national and Texas president of the Horned Lizard Conservation Society. Here he tells the story of Old Rip, perhaps the longest-lived, but certainly the most famous horned lizard known.Narrator: Andy GluesenkampTitle: DogsDuration: 00:04:25Date: August 3, 2023Andy Gluesenkamp, Director of Conservation at San Antonio Zoo, leads the Texas Horned Lizard Canine Detection Network. Here he tells the story of that Network. He explains how the partnership works with Paul Bunker and his firm, Chiron K9, to train dogs (and their owners) to find horned lizard scat, skin, eggs and other traces, to help with finding and monitoring these well-camouflaged reptiles.Narrator: Wade SherbrookeTitle: ChloroplastsDuration: 00:03:01Date: November 6, 2023Dr. Wade Sherbrooke, the Director Emeritus of the Southwestern Research Station, an arm of the American Museum of Natural History, is a long-time student of horned lizards. Here he tells how horned lizards are deeply connected with all living creatures, including humans, and how all life is in turn dependent on plants and the chloroplasts that harvest energy from the sun.Narrator: Dean WilliamsTitle: Sun and ShadeDuration: 00:04:28Date: September 12, 2023Dr. Dean Williams, a biology professor at TCU in Fort Worth, has spent many years studying horned lizards, and trying to understand the reasons behind their decline. Many of his research projects have focused on remnant populations of the lizards in small south Texas towns. There, he has found that protecting a vital mix of open and bushy areas provides the small patches of sun and shade that enable horned lizards to keep a safe body temperature.