Temperament
Despite its fierce appearance, Texas horny lizards are extremely docile creatures. Since they have very few natural predators, they are not at all aggressive, and will never bite. Captured horned lizards will lie completely limp in a human's hand or pocket, playing dead, so they made excellent pets before they were threatened. Today, it is illegal to disturb or keep a horned lizard without a state permit.
The Texas horned lizard is a sunbather, and requires bright sunlight to produce vitamin D. Deprived of sunlight, the animal will be unable to produce vitamin D and will suffer from vitamin deficiency. For this reason horned lizards are most often found along the side of roads or other open, rocky areas, where they can lounge and take in sunlight.
At night, the lizard buries itself in sand.
Otherwise, horned lizards are most often found near harvester ant hills. Although they prefer to move very little, horned lizards can move quite fast if they feel there is a predator in the area, and will dart into thick grass and foliage to escape. Horned lizards are also excellent diggers, and can quickly burrow underground to escape threats.
Read more about this topic: Texas Horned Lizard
Famous quotes containing the word temperament:
“The artistic temperament is a disease that affects amateurs.... Artists of a large and wholesome vitality get rid of their art easily, as they breathe easily or perspire easily. But in artists of less force, the thing becomes a pressure, and produces a definite pain, which is called the artistic temperament.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“Temperament is the primary requisite for the critic—a temperament exquisitely susceptible to beauty, and to the various impressions that beauty gives us.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Temperament is the natural, inborn style of behavior of each individual. It’s the how of behavior, not the why.... The question is not, “Why does he behave a certain way if he doesn’t get a cookie?” but rather, “When he doesn’t get a cookie, how does he express his displeasure...?” The environment—and your behavior as a parent—can influence temperament and interplay with it, but it is not the cause of temperamental characteristics.”
—Stanley Turecki (20th century)