Showing posts with label desert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label desert. Show all posts

August 03, 2012

Cloudy with a chance of horned lizards

Many people go to Mexico for a relaxing beach vacation. But Burke scientists spent their "summer vacation" searching the desert for signs of the elusive horned lizard.

Horned lizards are especially diverse, including sixteen species that vary dramatically from each other (picture Thanksgiving dinner, when you're wondering how that crazy cousin could POSSIBLY be related to you).

Some give live birth like humans, while others lay eggs. Some can squirt blood out of their eye as a defense mechanism against predators, while others can’t. Not to mention, horn and tail lengths vary dramatically between the species. How, where, and why did these lizards adapt so differently from one another?

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