Horned Lizard's Blood-Shooting Defense Mechanism

Imagine a lizard that can squirt blood from its eyes!

That's the horned lizard.

When a predator tries to eat it, the lizard shoots blood.

This startles the predator, giving the lizard a chance to escape.

The blood can also taste bad or irritate the predator's mouth.

The lizard controls this by raising the blood pressure in its head, which causes blood vessels to burst.

This adaptation helps the lizard survive attacks from animals like coyotes, foxes, and birds.

The blood vessels heal quickly after the lizard uses its defense.