First mistaken for a frog–was hopping on its rear limbs–, this Blainville's horned lizard is remarkable: invisible on the brush, we only noticed it because it moved. Outstanding camouflage.

Susan Marie Hult's master thesis reads:

"One of the most unusual behaviors, unique to most species of horned lizards, is their ability to squirt a narrow stream of blood from their eyes. They can project the stream forward or backward and reach distances of up to almost 2 m (Smith 1946; Cutter 1959; Sherbrooke 2003)."

So glad my son did not try to catch this one.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175884213

#iNaturalist #Reptiles #lizard #California