- This is a horned lizard.
Are they sharp touch? Are they dangerous?
You've seen the cholla,
it's time to take a step up to the Joshua Tree.
One, two-
(dramatic music)
What's going on everybody? I'm Mark Vins.
And today I'm taking you on an adventure with me
to look for horned lizards. Let's go!
All right, so it's pretty windy out here today,
which could pose some problems for finding horned lizards.
Horned lizards as we know are very small species of reptile,
and they're gonna want to be taking shelter today
out of this wind, not to mention the sun is behind a lot
of clouds so those ectothermic reptiles
are definitely gonna be hunkered down, trying to keep warm.
Now we're also hopefully gonna find out later,
if we find one, are they dangerous?
Are they dangerous to hold? Are they sharp to touch?
That's something that I'm going to reveal
later in this video.
All right, cool. Here.
Here's a cool plant.
You can see this creosote bush has already blossomed.
This is my favorite desert plant
because it's what gives the desert it's smell.
That beautiful aroma that you get after a rainstorm
is because of this plant.
And you can actually experience that without rain.
All you have to do, take a little sprig.
And you rub it in your hands.
I do this every time I'm in the Southwest.
These are all over the Southwest.
And then drop.
Aw, man. I love that smell.
But another cool thing about the creosote bush
is it makes a great hiding spot for smaller animals.
Including the horned lizard. Today's target species.
So you can bet every creosote bush we pass,
I'm gonna be looking underneath.
All righty, Corey, time to move on.
Here's a cool barrel cactus. Look at that.
Its spines are super sharp.
You don't need to worry about ankle breakers out here.
You gotta worry about ankle shredders. Look at that.
So we couldn't come on an adventure out here
without addressing one of these.
The Joshua Tree is a very unique species.
It's the tallest and largest of the Yucca.
And they are extremely sharp.
Come in here real quick, Corey. Look at this,
Should I show everybody just how sharp these really are?
- [Corey] I think that's what everybody wants to see.
- Okay, are you guys ready for this?
You've seen the cholla.
It's time to take a step up to the Joshua Tree. Ready?
One, two, no way guys. (laughs)
That would literally go straight through my hand.
Corey, reach out and feel how strong
- Oh my gosh. - That is.
- That is rigid. - And they are razor sharp.
What's really cool about this plan is
that they are actually ancient.
These trees can live up to 500 years old
and they take about 60 years to grow into a mature plant.
So this one is at least 60 years old.
Now they can grow quite a bit taller than this.
They can actually extend up to heights of 40 feet.
Okay, time to find those lizards.
Horned lizards are some of the coolest reptiles
in the Southwest.
There's many species.
Certainly we found them before on Brave Wilderness,
but we're looking for a special one today.
One we have not seen yet on video.
So far no luck.
As we know, washes are a great place
to find and reptiles specifically snakes.
So we just wanted to come up here real quick
and see if anything's moving.
We found the desert horn lizard, a baby, a juvenile.
I'm gonna grab him, ready, Corey?
One, two, three. Got him.
Hello! Look how beautiful he is.
Okay here, let's get down out of the wind.
This is a good spot. Oh yeah.
Definitely much more out of the wind.
This is a juvenile desert horned lizard.
Look at how cute this little reptile is.
Let's tell everybody at home all about you.
Now, although their appearance is quite spiky and ominous,
I can tell you that all of those are nothing more
than modified scales.
The only real sharp part is that crown around their head.
And even those are very dull.
Now the crown of horns on the desert horned lizard
is actually a lot shorter than that
of the regal horned lizard.
You may have seen our past videos
in Arizona where we found the Regal horned lizard.
This is a different species, but it is one of three
horned lizard species that has that defense mechanism
where they can project blood out of their eyes.
Notice this horned lizard did not do that.
They really have to be agitated
to display that defense mechanism.
And what that is, it's actually pretty bizarre.
These lizards have two veins that connect
to their ocular sinuses and they have the ability
to constrict those veins to stop the blood flow
from the heart.
Now, when that pressure builds up,
they can release it in such a force that it breaks through
the membrane and shoots out up to four feet. Wow!
Oh, look at that cute little tail.
Cool pattern on that tail.
Very flat for a horned lizard,
but I just love the coloration of the desert horned lizard.
Those beautiful whitish grays and browns,
almost a green hue, and that the outer line of orange
and tan on the cheeks.
Man, you are so cool looking.
And I can't believe we found you underneath a creosote bush
that we were talking about just earlier is a great place
for smaller animals to take refuge in wind and sun.
And like I mentioned earlier, this is just a hatchling,
a tiny desert horned lizard.
But if it's lucky enough,
it'll grow up to be three to five inches in length,
which is about three times your size.
So you've got a long way to go, buddy,
but we're gonna put you right back where we found you
so you can get well on your way.
Right? Right.
What a special way to end our adventure here in the deserts
of Nevada, finding the desert horned lizard.
I'm Mark Vins. Be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
All right, let's put you back.
There's the creosote bush and your home.
Here we go. Have a good day, thanks for hanging.
(upbeat music)