push their cranial spines into the hand while held. When excited, they puff themselves up with air, similar to the way a Chuckwalla does, making themselves look bigger. If spotted near a bush, they will dash into it in an attempt to find cover from any threat. Unlike most other species of horned lizard, Phrynosoma platyrhinos is most likely to run when startled, though they will often only run for a short period of time before stopping again. Like several other horned lizard species, desert horned lizards are able to squirt blood from their eyes. The desert horned lizard has also been observed to exhibit rain-harvesting behavior in the wild, a behavior previously only attributed to a handful of other species. When rain-harvesting the lizard adopts specific posture in order to get its mouth closer to the ground. Like other iguanids P. platyrhinos performs a number of displays. Iguanid displays are usually used to assert a social structure or for aggression and courtship, and can present in a variety of different behaviors such as: push ups, bobbing of the head, tail movements, along with changes in posture. In P. platyrhinos these displays are less aggressive and appear to be most concerned with sex and species recognition. These behaviors include various tail positions such as curled, between the legs, or arched down with scratching behaviors, push ups, and a three-legged stance where one of the hind legs is held off the ground and the back is presented to predators. See also Texas horned lizard References Further reading Hylton, Brodie; Ecology and Species Comparisons of the Short-Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma douglassi) and the Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos), from the following website: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_horned_lizard.php) Phrynosoma Reptiles of Mexico Reptiles of the United States North American desert fauna Fauna of the Sonoran Desert Reptiles described in 1852 Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard