OKLAHOMA CITY— Press Release for Immediate Release, December 18, 2014
The Center for Biological Diversity, concerned scientists and a 15-year-old lizard enthusiast filed a formal petition
today seeking state endangered species protection in Oklahoma for the
Texas horned lizard. Despite their name, these formidable-looking
lizards with numerous horns on their heads were once common throughout
Oklahoma, but have now nearly disappeared due to habitat destruction,
pesticides and introduced fire ants.
“Time’s
running out for these lizards,” said Collette Adkins Giese, a Center
biologist and lawyer focused on protecting reptiles and amphibians. “The
state of Oklahoma needs to recognize the dire situation these rare
creatures are in before it’s too late.”
Today’s
petition documents that the Texas horned lizard has undergone massive
declines in Oklahoma and continues to be threatened by loss of habitat
and many other factors. Fifteen-year-old Kade Wilson contacted the
Center for help in protecting the lizards after learning that a shopping
center would be built in a field near his home, where he enjoyed
finding the lizards, also known as “horny toads.” The lizard is already
listed as a “threatened species” in Texas. In both states it is illegal
to kill the lizards or collect them for pets.
"I’m
a fifteen-year-old and I might not be a scientist or a biologist but I
know that the horny toad is just trying to share the Earth with us, and
we’re taking it away from them,” said Wilson, who joined the petition.
“Horny toads look like modern dinosaurs, and that’s why they’re
interesting to me. If we don’t protect them, the horny toads too will be
gone."
Experts
agree that the Texas horned lizard is suffering substantial declines
not just in Oklahoma, but across its range in the Midwest and Southwest.
Because the lizard eats harvester ants and not much else, pesticides
that kill its ant prey also harm the lizard. Other threats include
invasive red fire ants (that outcompete the native harvesters), drought
from climate change, and illegal collection for the pet trade. The loss
of these lizards is alarming because reptiles play important roles as
predators and prey in their ecosystems and are valuable indicators of
environmental health.
“It’s
so sad that horned lizards are declining. These beautiful creatures are
iconic members of desert and prairie communities of the western United
States,” said Dr. Geoffrey Carpenter, a herpetologist and co-author of
today’s petition. “We need to protect the lizard and its habitat while
we still can.”
The
Texas horned lizard has prominent horns on its head and spines
scattered over its backs and sides. To avoid being eaten by predators,
the normally flat-bodied lizard can puff up and appear very fat, causing
its body scales to protrude so the lizard cannot be easily swallowed.
The lizard also ejects blood from its eyes when threatened; in courtship
males rapidly bob their heads, and females nod their heads in response.
Although
reptiles have been around for hundreds of millions of years and
survived all past mass extinction events, now, due largely to human
impacts, they’re dying off at up to 10,000 times the historic extinction
rate. About 20 percent of reptiles in the world are endangered or
vulnerable to extinction.
The
Center was joined in its petition for the Texas horned lizard by Dr.
Steve Sheffield, a zoologist who received his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State
University, and Dr. Geoffrey Carpenter, a herpetologist affiliated with
the University of Oklahoma Biological Station.
Contact:
Collette Adkins Giese, Center for Biological Diversity, (651) 955-3821
Dr. Steve Sheffield, (443) 831-1956
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