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I never thought that natural, wild creatures and beauty would be my favorite thing about Los Angeles, but I really think it is. The plants here are fabulous (although most of them couldn't survive without our help and associated environmental cost), but more specifically the hummingbirds that have been to my feeder -- lately it has been a non-stop drivethrough -- mcdonalds eat your heart out. And unlike mcdonalds, even though I purvey sugary water to young creatures, I don't have to suffer with the guilt of creating a generation of diabetics. <p> Anyway, today in Temescal Gateway Park I saw a huge (12 inches nose to tail) horned lizard (aka <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrynosoma">horny toad</a> on my run. It scared the crap out of me because it was just laying in the middle of the trail and usually you don't expect anything to be there. He seemed almost completely unconcerned by my presence. He just turned his head (never moved his body) and stared at me with one big eye. A dragonfly or somesuch landed on his nose; he looked at that and then back at me. I kept expecting him to dispatch the dragonfly, but he pretty much ignored it and just stared me down until I left. I tried to spook him into leaving the trail but he wasn't having any of it. <p> I have spent more time than I should have trying to <a href="http://www.phrynosoma.org/">ID the species of this guy online</a>, but nothing seems to look right given what I've read about their ranges... and I didn't know enough to memorize his horn configuration. Seriously though, this guy was gigantic.