Flat-tailed+Horned+Lizard

//Phrynosoma mcallii//
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 * Domain || Eukaryia ||
 * Kingdom || Animalia ||
 * Phylum || Chordata ||
 * Class || Reptillia ||
 * Order || Squamata ||
 * Family || Phyrnosomatiadae ||
 * Genus || Phyrnosoma (1) ||
 * Species || mcallii ||

Habitat
The flat-tailed horned lizard is found in sandy flatlanded deserts with low vegetation. They mostly appear in places with a lot of pebbles or hills. The flat-tailed horned lizards live in burrows usually created in sand by the lizards. They can be mostly found westward into the Borrego Valley, Ocotillo Wells area, West Mesa, and Yuha Desert.

The abiotic factors that can be found in the areas of the flat-tailed horned lizard are deserts that have high temperatures, little rainfall, dry seasons, and little topography. The biotic factors present in the environment are mostly vegetation. The creosote bush, bur-sage, indigo bush, saltbush, and ocotillo are plants that are the only vegetation around the flat-tailed horned lizard's area.

The flat-tailed lizard builds burrows to keep itself from being too exposed from the heat. It also uses the burrows as an escape if it feels as if it was being harmed in some way. They are usually hard to find unless they are moving outside the burrows. The burrows are also used for hibernation. The lack of plantation is causing the flat-tailed horned lizard to become an endangered species.

Environment Photograph
The flat-tailed horned lizard lives in sandy flatlanded desert.

Species Interactions
The flat-tailed horned lizard is considered to be a level 2 consumer because it's main diet consists of desert ants and other invertebrates. There is not a lot of water for the horned lizard to drink but it gets its water from the insects it consumes. Some predators of the flat-tailed horned lizard consists of ravens, American kestrels, domestic dogs and cats, and round-tail ground squirrels. The round-tail ground squirrels seem to be the main reason why the FTHL are decreasing in population. Humans are also another cause of their decrease because of roads and development in land. To avoid being eaten or killed by their predators, they lay on their backs and pretend to be dead so the predator will lose interest. They also have a cryptic coloration to defend themselves or use it as a way of hiding from their prey. They find these insects on shrub-dotted sand flats during sunset hours so that they do not have to hunt during the heat of the day. An adaptation that helps the flat-tailed horned lizard collect food is the ability to run faster than other horned lizards. The ants they eat have indigestible chitin so the FTHL has to eat a great mass of them to meet the nutrient requirement.

Flat-tailed horned lizard hunting for ants in the plants in the top right

Reproduction
The flat-tailed horned lizard has 2 life cycles; they spend half the day moving around and the other half burrowed under the sands of the desert. In November through February, the FTHL hibernate in burrows five to 10 centimeters below the surface. February to March, they emerge from hibernation to mate, which they do throughout the active season. Mating happens in spring and 3 to 10 eggs are laid. To defend their non-hatched children, they fight the predator who wants to eat the children. If the predator is bigger than the mother or father, the FTHL lays on its back and stays still to pretend as if it was dead, making the predator lose interest because it wants fresh food.

Conservation/Elimination efforts
The flat-tailed horned lizard is a species that is starting to decrease in population and are also becoming an endangered species. Right now, the main reason why the population is decreasing is because of roads on their homeland. Flat-tailed horned lizards walk around during the night, and when they walk through the road, cars are not able to see them well enough to stop. They have been federally protected since 1993, but this has been withdrawn in 2006. They are becoming a near threatened species but there is no protection over them. Ways of protecting them from roads could be something that blocks the territory from the road. There is a Conservation Act to protect the FTHL but most have rejected the idea to protect the lizards. If no protection will occur for the lizards, they will become an extinct species.