(Montana FWP) Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is asking visitors to glance at the ground everyone once in a while when hiking this summer, as they’d like the public’s help in documenting sightings of the increasingly rare short-horned lizard.
Sometimes brashly referred to as the “horny toad”, the creature is an uncommon sight in eastern Montana, a far cry from when they were once considered the second most abundant reptile along the Missouri River in Montana in the late 19th Century, second only to the western rattlesnake.
Currently, however, these lizards are considered a ‘Species of Greatest Inventory Need’ in Montana due to insufficient data on their population and distribution.
If you do find one, FWP asks that you record the location, GPS coordinates if possible, and report it to your local FWP Biologist.
