Texas horned lizards preferred meal is the harvester ant. Sometimes, they lye perfectly still and patiently pick them off with their long sticky tongue. More often than not, they go in search for groups of the ants. The ants usually flee but occasionally stay and fight. They swarm the lizard in what is called a “mobbing”. Sometimes this deters the lizard but determined ones stay and close their eyes letting dozens of ants bite and sting them. This doesn’t bother them because they have a substance in their skin that is detoxifying to the ant venom (Manaster).

Unfortunately, fire ants are moving in on the territory of the harvester ants. The fire ants out compete the harvester ants for resources causing them to leave the area or die. The horned lizard does not eat fire ants and therefore, the decline in harvester ants has caused a serious decline in horned lizard populations (Taber).