PhrynosomaticsThe Newsletter of the Horned Lizard Conservation Society

Our purpose is to document and publicize the values andconservation needs of horned lizards, to promote hornedlizard conservation projects, and to assist with horned lizardmanagement initiatives throughout their ranges.

Volume 22, Issue No. 4 NOVEMBER 2017

Phrynosomatics November 2017

Horned Lizard Conservation SocietyBiennial Meeting

By Jared FullerOn July 29th of this year,the Horned Lizard Con-servation Society met inDowntown Goliad, Texas,for our bienneial meet-ing. The meeting oc-curred in Goliad’s originalbank building, which hasbeen repurposed into ameeting/ party hall. Thiswas a perfect location forsuch a gathering! It has arich history that MaryFuller presented to theaudience at the kick-offof the meeting. We hadapproximately thirtymembers and a few walk-ins attend our full day of ed-ucational talks.

We also had posters which we had never had beforeat a biennial meeting which were from the threemost recent grant recipients. Jennie Mook sent aposter on using harmonic radar tracking on hatchlinghorned lizards. Tom Van Devender sent a poster onthe Madrean area flora and fauna database that ourgrant recipient, for which Cecilia Morales collectedhorned lizard data. Courtney Heuring’s poster was ona habitat and genetic study on horned lizards in SouthCarolina.

I started off the meeting giving a summary of my mas-ter’s degree thesis that I conducted at West Texas

A&M in Canyon, Texas.My study focused on thegenetic effects of a cata-strophic wildlife on asingle population ofhorned lizards withinthe Chaparral WildlifeManagement Area. Inshort, I expected to seea decline in genetic vari-ation after the fire com-pared to before the fire.I found, however, thatalthough the fire led toa significant decline inthe population numbersof horned lizards, there

was no variation in the population’s genetics. This re-sult is very positive and suggests that horned lizardscan respond to these large fire events at least neu-trally in the short term without deleterious genetic ef-fects. Following the discussion of my master’s re-search, I then gave an update on my current research,which focuses on the overall genetic structure ofround-tailed horned lizards across their range. I havecollected over 200 genetic samples within the lastthree years and am in the process of planning a trip toMexico in the summer of 2018 to collect additionalround-tailed samples before I start my genetic analy-ses. This study will provide a comprehensive baselineof genetic variation and structure across the range ofthe round-tailed horned lizard. Ultimately, this infor-

Outside view of the meeting location at the old bank. (Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

continued on page 3

Phrynosomatics November 20172

National Board of DirectorsPresidentJared A. Fullerjfuller@unr.edu

President-ElectLeslie Nossamanpeoranun@gmail.com.

SecretaryMason Leemason.lee@sazoo.org

Treasurer Tanya Phillips (interim)tanya@austin.rr.com

Member ServicesLynn Semanrlynnseman@gmail.com

Director At LargeMonty Criswellmcrisw1@gmail.com.

Colorado ContactDanny MartinNatural Resource Ecology LabColorado State University1499 Campus DeliveryFort Collins CO 80523dannym77@lamar.colostate.edu

New Mexico ContactTom McCainPO Box 53095Albuquerque NM 87112tom@httom.com

California ContactDee Taylortdee@ecorpconsulting.com

Texas ContactBill Brooks108 Cactus CovePaige TX 78659512-581-0377b.brooks@utexas.edu

Nevada ContactJared A. Fullerjfuller@unr.edu

Mexico ContactWade Sherbrookewcs@amnh.org

PhrynosomaticsCopy EditorLeslie Nossamanpeoranun@gmail.com

PhrynosomaticsDesign EditorFannie Messec (interim)fmessec@me.com

GOT NEWS?FOR THE PHRYNOSOMATICSNEWSLETTER THAT IS…Send your photos (with captions),cartoon, artwork, poems, or articlesfor the newsletter to Leslie Nossamanat peoranun@gmail.com today!

on the web at –– www.hornedlizards.org

Phrynosomatics November 2017 3

mation will be critical for the con-servation and long-term manage-ment of the species, especially ifwe start to see extirpations anddeclines, like we have seen withthe Texas horned lizard.

Our next speaker was WadePhelps, who regaled us with alively history of horned lizards inKenedy, Texas. He described howKenedy has ultimately become the“horned lizard capital of theworld,” and told us about the pushfor the Texas horned lizard to be-come the state reptile.

Alyssa Fink, a graduate of TexasState University, then gave us awonderful talk focusing on hermaster’s thesis: “Survival, move-ment, and fine-scale habitat selec-tion of reintroduced Texas hornedlizards.” Her talk focused onwhether we should be using wildor captive populations for reintro-

duction efforts, how many shouldbe released, when and where theyshould be released, and the postmonitoring success. Her study tookplace at the Mason MountainWildlife Management Area(WMA), and lizards were releasedusing a “soft” release strategywhere individuals are kept infenced area to get used to the

local conditions before the gatesare left open. Alyssa tracked lizardsusing radio telemetry following thefull release of the individuals. Un-fortunately, 8 died or lost signalbefore the 3rd day of data collec-tion. However, 9 lizards survivedfor 54 days, with an average sur-vival of 71 days. Causes of deathwere due to raccoons, coachwhips,rattlesnakes, and additional un-

known causes. In somecases, the signal maybehave just simply been lost.On average, the lizardsmoved 100 meters fromthe release site, with themaximum distance being151 meters. Movementdistance decreased afterthe first week, probablydue to establishing homeranges. The horned lizardsalso stayed closer to antcolonies compared to ran-

dom points. Finally, fine-scalemovements were assessed, and itwas found that ambient tempera-tures influence ground tempera-ture selections. That is, hotterambient temperatures led to a cor-relation in climbing behavior intoshrubs for thermoregulation.

Cameron Martin, a biologist from

Texas Parks andWildlife, next gaveus an update onreintroduction ef-forts at the MuseWMA. The MuseWMA is located inNorth CentralTexas and is usedas a research anddemonstrationsite. Reintroduc-tion efforts at theMuse are focusedon survival, nest-

ing, daily movements, and totalarea of use. Wild Texas hornedlizards were collected betweenMay and August 2014-2017 fromprivate land and county roads inSan Angelo. The lizards were intro-duced to the reintroduction siteusing a soft release approach in a10’ x 10’ enclosure, and were fit-ted with radio transmitters. Loca-tions of the lizards were recorded2-3 times a week. Daily move-ments were highly variable andmortality of introduced lizards washigh. Mortality has been attrib-uted primarily tomammalian/avian predators andsnakes. However, a significant por-tion of the mortality is due to un-known causes. Twelve hornedlizard nests were observed duringthe study period, with only one ofthe nest sites being predated. Dur-ing nest observations, the hatch-lings were marked to provide yearclass information. However, an un-marked hatchling has been foundat the neighboring property sug-gesting that successful reproduc-tion and dispersal is occurringoutside of the known nests!

Leslie Nossaman then gave us anupdate on the breeding programs

Horned Lizard Conservation Society Biennial Meeting continued from page 1

continued on page 4

Wade Phelps wears his horned lizard hat while giving a presentation on the history of horned lizards around Kenedy,Texas. (Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

Alyssa Fink presenting her work at the Mason Mountain Wildlife Man-agement Area. (Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

Phrynosomatics November 20174

from the Dallas, Fort Worth, andLos Angeles zoos, as they were notable to send representatives. TheDallas Zoo was currently in themiddle of a clutch hatch at the zoo,so they could not spare the staff!The Dallas Zoo is having successwith their breeding program andare currently sending lizards toother zoos that are interested inmaintaining captive populations.

The Dallas Zoo has also beenstudying the life history of Texashorned lizards at the Rolling PlainsQuail Research Ranch (RPQRR)which is a 4,700 acre preserve inFisher County. They are currently intheir 7th research season at thepreserve. This year has seen a lotof rainfall, providing abundant foodfor the horned lizards. They are inthe process of compiling their datafrom the last seven years and willbe publishing a lot of data in 2018,so be on the lookout for it!

The Fort Worth Zoo has been in-volved in reintroducing the hornedlizard at a Parker County site onprivate land. They have been col-lecting data on the home ranges,habitats, diet, prey, survival rates,thermoregulation and hiberation.One very important study was thelocation and density of the har-vester ant mounds and the fire antmounds and their affect on loca-tion of the horned lizards. Survivalrates were recorded for adults and

juveniles. One of the findings wasthat soft releases which begin inpens are more successful thanhard releases where the hornedlizards are released directly on theground. Another finding is thatpredation is a big problem at thisstudy site.

The Fort Worth Zoo also performsa health assessment on non-intro-duced horned lizards to under-stand pathogens prevalent in wildpopulations. They have currentlylost this reintroduction site and arelooking into using others.

The Los Angeles Zoo is currentlybreeding the giant horned lizard(Phrynosoma asio). Their breedingprogram started by conducting afield study in Western Mexico,then legally imported three indi-viduals (2 males and 1 female).They have had success and nowevery giant horned lizard at otherzoos are the result of their breed-ing program! In 2012, they openedtheir LAIR (Living Amphibians, In-vertebrate, and Reptile exhibit)where the lizards are on display!

After lunch, Marsha May from theTexas Parks and Wildlife Depart-ment (TPWD) gave us an updateon the Texas Nature Tracker Pro-gram using the “iNaturalist” app,which is available as a free down-load for Apple and Android de-

vices. iNaturalist allows you tomake nature observations usingthe camera and GPS within yoursmart phone. This data is thenshared with anyone using the app,including biological researchersand is very useful for surveyingand taking inventory of wildlifeacross the USA. Particularly, biolo-gists at TPWD are interested in oc-currences of horned lizards. Thelocality data from horned lizard ob-servations are obscured from thepublic to protect horned lizardsand the private land owners wherethey occur.

I then retook the stage and give abrief slideshow focusing on thetaxonomy and diversity of hornedlizards, since we tend to focusmainly on the Texas horned lizard. Ishowed photos of the variationwithin and among species, and Italked about some recent scientificliterature describing new species,such as the recently (2014) de-scribed species in southern Mex-ico, Phrynosoma sherbrookei.

Following the slideshow, MasonLee, a conservation technicianfrom the San Antonio Zoo, gave usan update on their breeding pro-gram and future reintroductionprograms. The goal of this pro-gram is to eventually reintroduceTexas horned lizards back intoareas of central and south Texas

Horned Lizard Conservation Society Biennial Meeting continued from page 3

Posters from the past three grant recipients.(Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

Jared Fuller welcomes attendees to the meet-ing. (Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

Mary Fuller presents the history of the bankbuilding. (Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

Phrynosomatics November 2017 5

where they have been extirpatedin the recent decades. Interest-ingly, she noted that Texas hornedlizards have similar habitat require-ments to Bobwhite quail and thatconservations efforts focusing onhorned lizards would also benefitquail, and vice versa, as bothspecies require mosaic-type habi-tats with bare ground, and vegeta-tion for cover from predators andthermal extremes. Additionally, theSan Antonio Zoo is looking for har-vester ant queens to start antcolonies, so if you come across aqueen, please contact Andy Glue-senkamp at the San Antonio Zoo!

Bill Brooks ended our talks by giv-ing us an update on the Ol’ Rip Fes-tival, and requested volunteers tohelp man the Horned Lizard Con-servation Society booth. If you areinterested in volunteering, we arealways looking for help with thisfestival and others!

After our great day of talks, we

screened the short film “WhereDid the Horny Toad Go,” while mybrother, James Fuller, grilled ham-burgers outside in 105-degreeheat! The meeting was then con-cluded with a wonderful dinner ofcheeseburgers, chips and salsa,veggies, and cookies and brown-ies! One batch of cookies were inthe shape of horned lizards! Left-over frozen hamburger pattieswere donated directly to under-privileged families in Goliad.

In addition, our silent auction wasa tremendous success, and raisedover $1000! This money will beused to directly support our grantprogram. I would like to personallythank the following people andbusinesses that donated items.Please, visit their websites tocheck out their wonderful artworkand goods!

Toadland.com, Laurie Piepenbrink,Tanya Phillips, Laura McCalla,

James Fuller: jamesfuller.me

auction1 – Beautiful art donated by hornedlizard artisans on display in the auction. (Photoby Leslie Nossaman)

Starting at the top left: seven ink and pencildrawings from Melissa Kohout. Bottom right cor-ner: desert horned lizard painting by Sherry Kim-mel. Bottom left: garden stake and wind chimecourtesy of Toadland. (Photo by Jared Fuller)

Desert horned lizard painting by Laurie Piepen-brink. Middle: Texas horned lizard photo byJames Fuller. Bottom right: knit horned lizard hatby Lisa from My Fingers Fly. (Photo by JaredFuller)

Lantana Ridge Ranch:http://www.lantanaridgeranch.com

Dorin Mozisek: https://www.face-book.com/Cutandcharred/

Sherry Kimmel:https://www.etsy.com/shop/sherrykimmel…

Melissa Kohout:https://www.etsy.com/shop/MelissaKohout…

Hailey Herrera: https://hailey-e-herrera.pixels.com

Nora from Mesquite Gourds:http://www.mesquitegourds.com

Lisa from My Fingers Fly:https://www.etsy.com/shop/MyFingersFly

I would like to especially thank myparents, Jim and Mary Fuller, forgraciously donating the use oftheir historic bank building in Go-liad for our meeting and for ac-commodating our board membersat the Market Street Villas in Go-liad. This allowed our conferenceto occur at minimal costs.

Left: Water color by Hailey Herrera. Right: Pho-tograph of round-tailed horned lizard by JaredFuller. (Photo by Jared Fuller)

Gourd Courtesy of Mesquite Gourds. (Photo byJared Fuller)

Horned lizard quilt with tiny red ants in thebackground on the quilt. (Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

Phrynosomatics November 20176

July 30, 2017 Two Horned Lizard SurveysBy Leslie Nossaman

On Sunday July 30, the HLCSembarked on two surveys eastof Goliad. Thanks and gratitudeto Wade Phelps for arrangingboth of these wonderful surveys.

On both surveys Rachel Alenius, a Texas Christian University grad student and researcher was ready to recordall data found with each hornedlizard. She had a permit to han-dle horned lizards through theuniversity work. TCU is per-forming detailed studies on thehorned lizard which includestheir home range, genetics,diet, and habitats. And her fielddocumentation on the surveyswill certainly help with thesestudies.

First Survey:The first survey started in themorning on the private land ofthe Duniven family. The groupmet the family at their ranchhouse which is their countryhome. Two of the family mem-bers drove us around in theirtrucks and open-air jeepsacross their land in search of

the horned lizard.

It was a dry and dusty day butfull of fun and nature watching.Our first stop was the only lo-cation that we encountered ahorned lizard. We stopped on a

dusty road wherebushes and small treeslined the side of theroad. This was whereDennis Duniven whodrove one of the truckssaid he had seen manyTexas Horned Lizards.We discovered severalhorned lizard scats witha few being quite largeindicating large hornedlizards. We were so ex-

cited by one large fresh scatthat many people took photosof it. We also located severalharvester ant mounds andtrails of scurrying ants.

So we knew there had to behorned lizards in close proxim-ity. In the bushes we also foundlarge carefully constructedholes that might have belongedto rabbits or another smallmammal. We searched throughthe area being careful not tostep on any in the grass. Finally

Rachel Alenius saw one withher keen eye. We then sur-rounded the lizard on eitherside of the bushes and movedcarefully inward. Troy Beardenmade a move to capture it andalmost got it. Then TanyaPhillips jumped into the bushesand cornered the horned lizard.After capture we oohed andaahed over the lizard and itsbeauty. Rachel handled thelizard and collected her geneticsamples and recorded the infor-mation. It was an adult maleand about 7 inches from snoutto end of tail. He was returnedto his original location probablysomewhat confused by his in-teraction with these large mam-mals. He did allow us manygood photo opportunities beforedisappearing into the brush.

We then continued down theroad to many other locationsand drove the perimeter of theDuniven’land. But we did notsee any more horned lizards.We did observe lots of differentkinds of birds including quail,hawks, cardinals, and dove.We also saw jack rabbits anddeer. The landscape was beau-tiful and it would be great to re-turn someday.

The group has the horned lizard surrounded.(Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

The survey team. From left to right: Jared Fuller, Rollo Newsom,Bill Brooks, Paula Bearden, Billy Bennett, Beth Bennett, TanyaPhillips, Troy Bearden, Rachel Alenius, Chuck Reburn, LeslieNossaman, and Wade Phelps. (Photo by Dennis Duniven)

The landscape on the Duniven Ranch. (Photoby Leslie Nossaman)

Phrynosomatics November 2017 7

Second survey:The second survey was ac-complished by a much smallergroup and occurred after lunchand included Leslie Nossaman,Wade Phelps, Tanya Phillips,Rachel Alenius, and Chuck Re-burn. The heat had increasedsignificantly but some of us stillmarshaled on hoping to seeand study at least one morehorned lizard. The high for theday was supposed to be 102degrees which was about thetemperature when we startedthis survey. We went into someneighborhoods to public ownedland and searched. After about

The Texas Horned Lizard. (Photo by LeslieNossaman)

Rachel Alenius with her horned lizard. (Photoby Leslie Nossaman)

Rachel photographs the horned lizard with hisstatistics while Wade Phelps holds the lizard.(Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

Texas Horned Lizard posing in the sun. (Photoby Leslie Nossaman)

Rachel measures the horned lizard. The genetic sampling tubes are in front of her.(Photo by Leslie Nossaman)

30 minutes of walking aroundin the cloudless and breezelessheat, Rachel Alenius againfound the horned lizard. Someof us had walked past the siteand not seen the lizard. It hadhidden itself under leaves andRachel had made sure that shecarefully pulled up the leavesand not walked on them. If wewalked on the leaves, we mighthave injured the lizard or anyothers that might have beenhiding. He was very cleverlycamouflaged but no match forRachel’s alert eye.

Rachel performed her exami-nation of the lizard and deter-mined it was a male. And it wasone she had not captured be-fore even though she had beento this site many times. Hemeasured around 5½ inchesfrom snout to end of the tail.She collected the genetic sam-ples from the male and marked

him for next time. Then wetook lots of pretty pictures ashe posed for us in the sun.

It was a good day for huntinghorned lizards.

HL License Plates Help Support ConservationBy Leslie NossamanThe Horned Lizard license plate is part of the “Wild forTexas Collection.” You can show your support for wildlife byputting a Horned Lizard license plate on your Texas vehi-cle. Each plate costs just $30, with $22 of that fee going directly to benefit wildlife diversity and to help protect nativenon-game species such as the Horned Lizard.

Phrynosomatics November 20178

July 2017 Board of Director Meeting NotesBy Leslie Nossaman – BODSecretary

Attendance:All 5 board members were inattendance: Jared Fuller-Presi-dent, Leslie Nossaman-Secre-tary, Monty Criswell-Director-At-Large, TanyaPhillips-Treasurer, and on thespeaker phone was LynnSeman-Membership ServicesOfficer. Also in attendancewere members Lee Ann Linamand Bill Brooks.

Membership:Membership numbers since2003 were reviewed. Numbersof members have held steadyaround 250 until the past 4years when the numbers havedropped. It was noted that thegreatest percentage of losswas from students. It was de-cided that HLCS Board of Di-rectors should create astrategy on increasing our stu-dent membership as this hasalso impacted our number ofgrant submissions. It was also

discussed that the grant sub-missions have significantlydropped starting around 4years ago. HLCS has also losta large percentage of corporatesponsors and regular membersfrom the membership.

Grants:It was decided that the require-ment for a limit of 10 citationson a grant application was un-reasonable and the limit hasbeen removed. The advertise-ment in the newsletter was alsoto be changed and has beenupdated with the August 2017issue. The amount for grantswas discussed and it was de-cided to increase the amountfrom $500 to $750 per grant.

Treasury:It was noted that the balance inthe HLCS accounts is a total of$26,694.

New ideas for merchandise:Monty Criswell suggested HLCScreate a window sticker with theHLCS logo. It was agreed that

this was a good suggestion thatneeded follow up.

Advertising HLCS:It was discussed to researchadvertising HLCS in variousherpetological journals and atzoos. This should help with in-creasing membership and inparticular student membership.It was also discussed to helppay for horned lizard displaysat zoos and check if the zoowill place a sign that HLCScontributed. It was also dis-cussed to check with zoos withhorned lizards to possibly havea horned lizard to be a spot-lighted animal at the zoo. Itwas also discussed to get aGovernor’s Proclamation inTexas for a horned lizard day.

Donations:Alexander Cochran, a lifetimemember has offered to fund aproject to create horned lizardcoins. He has also offered avariety of other ways to makedonations to HLCS which willrequire follow up.

Horned Lizard Items Make Great Holiday GiftsThe holiday season is comingand have you completed yourshopping yet? Did you knowthat the Horned Lizard Conser-vation Society has over 20items for sale? The Society hasa fantastic inventory of cleverand cute horned lizard itemsthat are appropriate for kids ofall ages. Here is a general list-ing of what you can find:

T-shirts – 5 different kindsPinsTie TacksEarringsNecklaceKey RingGuardian AngelHood OrnamentBolo TiePrintsCardsChristmas CardsMagnet

Bumper StickerRubber StampBooks – 3 different kinds

These items would make awonderful holiday gift for familymembers or friends. And theproceeds from the sale go tobenefit horned lizard conserva-tion. For more informationemail Bill Brooks at bgbrooks@mail.utexas.edu.

Phrynosomatics November 2017 9

President’s MessageBy Jared Fuller

Hi Phrynosomatics! Thank you for your continuous support of the Horned Lizard Conservation Soci-ety! I would like to thank everyone who attended our biennial meeting in Goliad, TX. The meeting wasa great success (see the full write up in this issue), and I would encourage everyone to try to attendthe next one! It was exciting to be in a room full of individuals who strongly support and care for theconservation of horned lizards!

The board has voted on a few changes that I would like to inform you about. The president-elect posi-tion has been vacant. This is a crucial position to fill because my term expires at the end of 2018.Leslie Nossaman has been nominated to move from the secretary positon into the president-elect po-sition, and this motion passed unanimously across the board. Leslie has been continuously involvedin the society for a long time, and her passion for the success of the society makes her an excellentchoice for president-elect, and eventually president!

Leslie’s movement has led to a vacant secretary position, and the board voted 5-0 in favor of thenomination of Mason Lee, from the San Antonio Zoo to be our new secretary. Mason is also ex-tremely passionate about the conservation of horned lizards, and is an exceptional addition to ourboard. You can find more information about Mason in our Member Highlight!

Finally, IF you are an online Amazon shopper, I would like to encourage you to shop via smile.ama-zon.com. The AmazonSmile Foundation helps you support a charity of your choice while doing yourregular shopping on Amazon! You can select the Horned Lizard Conservation Society as your charityto support, and our society will receive 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases. Every little bit helps!To learn more and get started with your charitable contributions, please visit:https://smile.amazon.com/about.

10 Phrynosomatics November 2017

Member Highlight--Mason LeeMy favorite “chore” as a childwas rescuing geckos andanoles that wandered into ourhome in San Antonio. My lovefor animals led to my becominga volunteer at the San AntonioZoo when I was 15, where I in-teracted with visitors and helpedthem fall in love with the naturalworld. After a few years of vol-unteering at the Zoo, I was cer-tain that I needed to pursue adegree that would allow me tostudy animals. I attended TexasA&M University where I re-ceived a B.S. in Wildlife Ecologyand Conservation.

I returned to the zoo after myfirst year of college to internwith the Herpetology Depart-ment and fell in love with thechuckwallas and Mexicanhorned lizards in the desert ex-hibit. This was actually my firstintroduction to horned lizards! Istarted working with the TexasA&M AgriLife Extension Serv-ice Wildlife and Fisheries Unitprior to my last year of studies.One of my first projects therewas to write an article about awildlife issue that I was inter-ested in that involved turkey,quail, wild pigs, or deer. Well, Iwas interested in reptiles! Whatwould I write about? I was at aloss until one of my supervisorssent me a link to a video fromthe Rolling Plains Quail Re-search Ranch about how manyTexas horned lizards they findin good Northern bobwhitequail habitat. I was fascinatedby this connection and wrotean article describing the similarhabitat needs between the two

species. The more I read aboutthe Texas horned lizard, themore in love I fell with this spe-cial reptile.

After graduation, I began work-ing as a Conservation Techni-cian with the Department ofConservation and Research atthe San Antonio Zoo, where Iwork with a variety of threat-ened and rare amphibians andreptiles. Our departmentstarted a Texas horned lizardreintroduction project in De-cember, giving me the opportu-nity to finally work closely withthe lizard I’ve admired foryears. We received five adultfemales from the Texas Parksand Wildlife Department tobegin our captive breeding pro-gram, and one of them came ingravid. She laid her clutch afteronly a few weeks with us, anda little over a month later wehad 28 new babies. I namedthe first one “Finally,” a tributeto how we had been eagerlyanticipating their hatching!They have been such a joy toobserve as they grow.

Our goal with the program is toestablish a captive breedingcolony of about 50 adults. We

are working with privatelandowners in central andsouth Texas who have goodquality horned lizard habitatand harvester ants but nohorned lizards. We will eventu-ally release large numbers ofjuvenile lizards onto their prop-erty, giving the horned lizard achance to reestablish in areasit has historically occupied. Weare visiting these sites and as-sessing their suitability, and weare still in the process of ob-taining adult lizards for ourbreeding colony. We are hope-ful that we will have enough ju-veniles to release onto aproperty by 2018 or 2019.

One of my favorite parts aboutworking with the horned lizardsis getting to share them withothers, especially schoolchild-ren. They love getting to see“Gertie,” our ambassadorlizard, and learn all about her

neat adaptations and defensemechanisms. It is great gettingto answer all of their questionsand witness their enthusiasmfor these native Texans. Ourprogram, along with manyother reintroduction programsoccurring in the state, will

This is the first baby to hatch at the San Anto-nio Zoo and is named Finally. It is two days oldin the photo. (Photo by Mason Lee)

Kids at the San Antonio Zoo’s summer campprogram where Gertie is being introduced tothe kids. (Photo by Mason Lee)

Phrynosomatics November 2017 11

The Horned Lizard ConservationSociety is dedicated to protectinghorned lizards by documentingand publicizing the values andconservation needs of hornedlizards, promoting horned lizardconservation projects, and assist-ing with horned lizard manage-ment initiatives. Towards thoseends, the HLCS annually spon-sors research that has direct con-servation applications. To learnmore about the society and pastgrants, go to

hopefully soon give these children the opportu-nity to experience these lizards outside of theclassroom.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of thisreintroduction program since its inception, and Iam honored to serve as Secretary for theHorned Lizard Conservation Society. I have onlyseen one Texas horned lizard in the wild myself,and I can’t wait until it is once again a commonoccurrence to find these lizards out enjoying theTexas sun in their historic range.

Mason Lee standing next to a table at a Zoo outreach event with one oftheir adult lizards, Agnes and four of the babies. (Photo by Mason Lee)

Horned Lizard Research Grant 2018 Applicationshttp://www.hornedlizards.org/.

We will be offering grants againin 2018. In the past, priority hasbeen given to projects that havedirect conservation implications,including public education.

To apply, send a proposal detail-ing the goal of the study, the ra-tionale for it including relevanceto conservation of horned lizards,and how your work would benefitfrom this opportunity. The pro-

posal may not exceed 1000words. Also include a preliminarybudget with any other fundingsources available or received foryour project. In addition, send ashort resume or CV (up to 3pages) for the lead applicant andhave a single letter of referencesent to Monty Criswell:mcrisw1@gmail.com. The dead-line is January 1, 2018. The deci-sion will be announced byJanuary 31, 2018.

By Fannie Messec and LeslieNossaman

When submitting photos forPhrynosomatics please adhereto the following:

For photos:• Send the highest possibleresolution image• Photo at least 300 DPI. Animage of 5000 X 3000 pixelsis a great size• Crop photo to emphasize

what you want seen• Send photo in B&W or color;whichever you used to takethe picture • Try to have good contrast inyour photo--good light is amust. Color photos will be incolor online and B&W in theprinted newsletter• Permission statement forHLCS use • JPEG files are preferable • Photo file sizes up to 1.2 MB- if more than 1.2 MB, please

send a CD or DVD . • Be sure to state who took thephoto, when and where it wastaken, and with a descriptionof the subject. Tell why was ittaken, what was going onwhen it was taken, and any-thing else the photographerwould like to share about thephoto• Animals in photos should havea natural background withgood lighting

Guidelines on Submitting Photos to the Newsletter

Phrynosomatics November 2017

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Table of Contents

Horned Lizard Conservation Society Biennial Meeting: July 28-29, 2017… ..............................................pp 1 - 5 Jared FullerJuly 30, 2017 Two Horned Lizard Surveys .................................................................................................pp 6 - 7 Jared FullerHL License Plates Help Support Conservation ..................................................................................................p 7 Leslie NossamanJuly 2017 Board of Directors Meeting Notes .....................................................................................................p 8 Leslie NossamanHorned Lizard Items Make Great Holiday Gifts .................................................................................................p 8 Leslie NossamanPresident’s Message..........................................................................................................................................p 9 Jared FullerMember Highlight—Mason Lee ..............................................................................................................pp 10 - 11 Mason LeeGuidelines on Submitting Photos to the Newsletter .........................................................................................p 11 Fannie Messec and Leslie NossamanHorned Lizard Research Grant 2018 Application.............................................................................................p 11

Phrynosomatics is now sent electronically.