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WADE FREE/ODWC JENA DONNELL/ODWC
LIZARD TOAD

Part of the Texas horned lizard’s scientific name, “Phrynosoma,” translates to “toad body.”

ing their status, the Wildlife Department has els,” Howery said. “The Wildlife Department
funded multiple studies focused on the pop- has made strides by having protective regu-
ular lizard and manages hundreds of thou- lations and managing habitat on public lands.
sands of acres of public lands that benefit But it will take a landscape scale effort — with
lizards and other wildlife. private landowners as our chief partner — to
“We’ve worked with several partners at make an impact.”
the University of Oklahoma, the Sam Noble
Museum of Natural History, the Oklahoma City I HAVE NATIVE GRASS AND ANTS…
Zoo, and Oklahoma State University to learn WHERE CAN I GET LIZARDS?
more about these lizards, where they occur,
Landowners that have both native habitat and ample ant mounds
and the potential viability of a relocation pro-
often reach out to the Wildlife Department to find out how they
gram,” Howery said. “And one of our current
can relocate horned lizards to their property. Unfortunately, studies
projects is assessing the most effective ways
show translocated lizards and other reptiles experience high mor-
to survey lizards on public and private lands.
tality — fewer than 25% of relocated Texas horned lizard adults and
Early indicators point to road-based surveys as
less than 30% of juveniles survive a full year — making a relocation
the most effective survey method.”
program unrealistic at this time.
Beyond this study, funded in part by the
“Relocated animals have a hard time orienting in and learning their
State Wildlife Grants program with sup-
new environment,” Howery said. “Studies show these individuals move
port from partners like the University of
four to five times more often in their new habitat than the resident
Oklahoma, the Wildlife Department also
horned lizards. That makes them incredibly susceptible to predation.”
manages habitat that can support Texas
Even without the issue of increased mortality of translocated ani-
horned lizards on 36 Wildlife Management
mals, the issue of scale remains.
Areas, encompassing more than 325,000
“They may be relatively small in size, but these lizards require a
acres of public lands. And the agency
large amount of quality habitat. For some species, we can imple-
encourages and financially supports similar
ment practices in our backyard and make an impact. But for Texas
habitat management practices, including
horned lizards, a relocation area would need to support several
prescribed fire and native grass plantings,
hundred lizards to make an impact, and that can require more than
on privately owned lands.
100 acres of high-quality habitat.
“Conserving this species in Oklahoma is
“The good news is that if you have quality habitat in a large tract,
going to take long-term commitment and
there’s a good chance that you already have lizards on your property.”
efforts from multiple partners at multiple lev-
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