Lizard Wrangling

I made a new friend last week. If you are on Facebook, you've already seen this, but some of you aren't on Facebook, and I thought you might enjoy seeing the photo. Pono and I had just returned to the car after a nice hike one morning and I found this wonderful creature underneath the car. I didn't want to run over it, so I poked it, to get it to run away. However, it was in the shade, and it was a pretty cool morning (for us). The lizard didn't move. I picked it up to move it, so as not to run over it. While it was hanging onto my fingers, I decided to photograph his (her?) handsome mug. 

Horned lizard.

Desert Camouflage extraordinaire!

If you would like to see another post I wrote about the horned lizard a while back, click here. Many people on Facebook said that they used to see a lot more of these lizards when they were young. According to some research I have done about them online, one of the main reasons we see less of them is because their diet is pretty exclusively ants. Since more and more people are using poison to kill ants, the horned lizard has a hard time. So if you want to see more horned lizards, let the ants live. (preferably outside.) I have been told that borax or dish soap will create a barrier that ants won't cross. So if you can find where they are coming in to your house, maybe try something like that to keep them out. 

In the studio, I have once more gone off in another direction. I would love to hear your thoughts about this new work, as I always love to hear from you, my readers.

(This one is still untitled.) Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches. ©karine swenson2013

Have a fabulous day, and thanks for reading!

Happy Horned Lizard

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011.  Southern California Desert.  104 degrees Fahrenheit, 4:22 pm.

Desert Horned Lizard

 The morning run with Pono three days ago was rewarded by an encounter with Phrynosoma Platyrhinos, or the Desert Horned Lizard.  It has been over a year since I have seen one of these amazing creatures.  I saw it scurrying out of the dirt road, and I stopped the car to take some photos.  Horned lizards are different from other lizards for several reasons.  First of all, horned lizards mostly eat ants.  According to this article, the small body of an ant is made up of a lot of indigestible material, so the lizard needs to eat a lot of ants.  This accounts for the horned lizard's large stomach.  Because of the large stomach, these lizards aren't as sleek and fast as other lizards.  They rely more on their horny bodies and their ability to change color to blend in with their environment for protection.  (notice in these photos how difficult it is to distinguish the horned lizard from the ground.) 

When a predator approaches, a horned lizard is most likely to freeze, relying on its coloring to hide it.  It will also blow its body up, to make its horns more obvious and to make itself look too big to swallow.  It may run in short bursts, as I saw this one do, and then freeze, to confuse the predator.  There are even a few species of the horned lizard that will squirt blood from its eyes to repel canine and feline predators.  (The desert horned lizard is not one of those.)  You can see a video with a Regal Horned Lizard which sprays blood here.  (If you are in to that sort of thing.)  The young horned lizards have smaller horns, and tend to get snapped up quickly, so the horned lizard will lay lots of eggs.  Cool-looking critter.

I am sure many of you are preparing for some fourth of July festivities.  Therefore I won't go on and on.  I will simply leave you with one more painting from the mixed media series and a photo of the native Antelope Ground Squirrel, wish you a happy fourth, and sign off!

Cute little bugger, but they are destructive, too.  They will climb up into your car and chew on important wires.

"Tail Therapy."  Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 9 x 12 inches.  ©Karine M Swenson 2011