A Greater Short-horned Lizard from central Arizona.

No doubt the comments will be full of “we call em horny toads as kids”. But, there’s more to it 🙂 These are lizards, rather than toads … which is a surprise to many born-and-raised Arizona residents.

There are also SEVEN distinct species of them in our state, all with their own appearance, habitat preferences, and specialized diet. So the “horny toads” you may recall playing with as kids may be entirely different than the species discussed.

And a favorite example of how confirmation bias can shape our perception of the world: another comment we always get on these posts is “used to see them all the time as a kid, not so much anymore”. While the population is in decline for some species, this is easily answered by answering this question: do you spend less time outdoors playing in the dirt as an older adult?