Coyote Peterson Encounters the Spiky Regal Horned Lizard That Gave Him His Name

While exploring the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, Brave Wilderness host Coyote Peterson happily encountered a sand-colored,spiky regal horned lizard who didn’t seem to be too bothered by human attention. While holding the tiny reptile, Peterson talked about how that this has always been his favorite type of lizard and chasing them as a kid earned him the nickname Coyote.

Not only is this truly my favorite lizard, but this lizard is responsible for giving me the nickname, Coyote. Now the way that happened is when I was a little kid about eight years old, my mom used to bring me out here to the Sonoran Desert and I would look for these lizards. However, because of their camouflage, they’re difficult to find.Now one of their main predators is the roadrunner. So what I would do is search for roadrunners. I would follow those roadrunners hoping that they would lead me to the horned lizards. My mom would watch me doing this and would say to herself, “You know what you’re kinda like? You’re kinda like Wile E. Coyote from the Warner Bros. Cartoon.” And then she started called me Coyote.

A photo posted by Coyote Peterson ???? (@coyotepeterson) on Sep 13, 2016 at 9:55am PDT