So I just received this interesting email re: my recent post on the birth of
12 little horned toads. Aunt Phibia wrote:
I wanted to respond to the mention of horny toads shooting blood out of their eyes. It is true of only one species...found in CA. The two species around here...Eastern Horned Toad (east of what I wonder) and the Mountain Horned Toad do not have this ability...and they only do it when they are scared to death...or nearly. Also, of these two species one bears live young and one lays eggs...interesting eh? Finally, my concern was that they live in a den for much of their first year...so I hope that you put them back near to where you found the mom and that they don't think your table is their den.
First, I want to reassure
Aunt Phibia about those youngsters. We are now several generations from the little guys whose pictures I showed. Either they found their den or they didn't. Not much I can do about it more than 20 years later! And, second, I wanted to pass along a curious fact I picked up at the archeology society meeting last night. If you see horned toad petroglyphs at sites down in the Verde Valley (and further north), they may well be Hopi clan symbols; this particular clan is responsible for water matters. Why, I would wonder -- for us white men, the horny toad is very much a symbol for the dryness of the desert.
So I just received this interesting email re: my recent post on the birth of 12 little horned toads. Aunt Phibia wrote: I wanted to respond to the mention of horny toads shooting blood out of their eyes. It is true of only one species...found in CA. The two species around here...Eastern Horned Toad (east of what I wonder) and the Mountain Horned Toad do not have this ability...and they only do it when they are scared to death...or nearly. Also, of these two species one bears live young and one lays eggs...interesting eh? Finally, my concern was that they live in a den for much of their first year...so I hope that you put them back near to where you found the mom and that they don't think your table is their den.
First, I want to reassure Aunt Phibia about those youngsters. We are now several generations from the little guys whose pictures I showed. Either they found their den or they didn't. Not much I can do about it more than 20 years later! And, second, I wanted to pass along a curious fact I picked up at the archeology society meeting last night. If you see horned toad petroglyphs at sites down in the Verde Valley (and further north), they may well be Hopi clan symbols; this particular clan is responsible for water matters. Why, I would wonder -- for us white men, the horny toad is very much a symbol for the dryness of the desert.
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