I also wanted to say that I admire your keen interest in HLs and willingness to post your thoughts. It's refreshing to see.

Quote: "I must acknowledge that ants are probably one of the most difficult insects to digest (which is likely why wild horned lizard droppings contain so much undigested ant material), so perhaps my concern over the horned lizards’ digestive abilities is misplaced. "

Why do you say that the ants seem to be largely undigested? I have recently developed an interest in analyzing what percentage of digestible matter is actually removed from the ant by the lizard. It seems weight "before and after" would be a simple method, but I am sure there are better ways to analyze the content. Caloric? Fat? Proteins? etc...
You sound as though you have some training in scientific method. Is this something you might have some insight into?

This is a study I worked on with some hatchling horned lizards a while back. You can see that these hatchlings put the ants to good use in their growth.


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