Week 15: your baby is the size of a Texas horned lizard

Your fetus is now the size of a Texas horned lizard, affectionately called a horny toad even though it is a lizard. Adults reach about 10 cm, matching your fetus this week.

This animal has one of the most memorable defenses in the desert: when seriously threatened, it can squirt a jet of its own blood out of its eyes, aimed at the predator, from a range of several feet. The blood tastes foul to coyotes and dogs.

Horned lizards eat mostly harvester ants and are covered in spines that make them a mouthful no predator enjoys. They are also expert at flattening themselves against the ground to vanish, which is their first line of defense before the eye-blood option.

Meanwhile, inside you

Your fetus this week is covered in fine downy hair called lanugo, and is starting to move in ways you will not feel for a few more weeks. They may even be hiccuping.