What is Gila Monster?
The Gila monster (pronounced HEE-luh) is a small, striking lizard with black scales and a series of orange stripes and spots. Along with their close cousins, the beaded lizard, the Gila monster belongs to one of the only venomous lizard families on Earth.
The Gila monster has a cobblestone appearance thanks to a living armor. Osteoderms, or tiny pieces of bone embedded in the skin, give lizards a degree of protection against predators, such as coyotes and hawks.
Gila monsters spend more than 90% of their lives underground, which makes it difficult for scientists to study. However, some radio tracking work has revealed that these animals will sometimes travel more than a mile at a time in search of food or possibly mates.
Although this species is often described as nocturnal, daytime sightings also occur.
Habitat and diet
The Gila monster is native to the American Southwest and Northwest Mexico. They live in arid regions, such as the Mojave, Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts.
With most of their life underground, the Gila monsters use their long claws to burrow. However, they will also make use of existing burrows in the landscape. Jason Jones, a herpetologist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife, says that some lizards will use the same burrow year after year, and during mating season, multiple Gila monsters may share a burrow.
Jones says the lack of suitable burrows can actually limit the number of Gila monsters in a given area.
The Gila monster’s favorite foods include bird eggs, turtles, and snakes, as well as newborn rabbits and ground squirrels. Occasionally, the lizards will even climb tall cacti to find bird nests and the delicacies they contain.
Between feedings, which can be extremely rare, Gila monsters survive on fat stored inside their tails.
(How climate change is affecting the Gila monster.)
In fact, when assessing the Gila monster’s fitness, scientists actually dipped the lizard’s tail into a pipe to see how much liquid was displaced. The more water, the bigger the tail and the stronger the Gila monster!
Gila monster venom
Unlike most snakes and spiders that inject their venom with long fangs that function like hypodermic needles, the Gila monster’s venom is delivered up from glands in the lower jaw by tiny grooves. on each tooth. This means that to actually poison their victims, Gila monsters actually have to clamp down and then chew.
Interestingly, the Gila monsters seem to use their venom almost exclusively for defensive purposes. This is because their favorite foods—birds, turtles, and snakes eggs—can’t be resisted.
(What is the difference between venom and poison?)
Although people rarely encounter Gila monsters in the wild, bites do occasionally occur. Symptoms include swelling, severe burning pain, vomiting, dizziness, weakness, rapid heart rate and/or low blood pressure.
A study of calls to US poison control centers revealed that Gila’s 105 bites on humans occurred between 2000 and 2011. Fortunately, most of the bites occurred between 2000 and 2011. bites were not serious: less than half required health care, and no deaths occurred.
If you ever find yourself in the unlikely situation of a Gila monster clinging to your body, experts recommend positioning the lizard so that all four of its legs are firmly placed on its face. land. If it still won’t release you, then try to pry open its jaws with a sturdy stick. Rinse the wound with water and seek immediate medical attention.
However, the Gila monster’s venom can also be useful. Over the past two decades, scientists have used its chemical composition to create new drugs for diabetes and obesity. One such drug, called semaglutide and marketed under the brand names Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus, has gained popularity as a weight loss treatment leading to a shortage in the United States.
(How harnessing the power of venom leads to new drugs.)
Reproduction
From April to June, male Gila monsters compete in wrestling matches that can last for hours. After the loser flees, the winner mates with the female. At the end of July, she finds a good nest where she lays 4 to 8 eggs, walks away and never looks back.
At least, that’s what scientists currently believe. The truth is, reproduction is one of those areas of the Gila monster’s life history that remains a mystery, Jones said.
Another problem is how young lizards survive after they hatch. Juveniles are almost never discovered in the wild.
Conserve
The Gila Monster is currently considered near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Some range countries have introduced restrictions aimed at protecting this species. In Utah, for example, it’s illegal to handle Gila monsters without a permit, and Arizona forbids anyone from collecting, killing, or selling Gila monsters.
The Gila Monster is still a popular species in the legal pet trade, however ownership is banned in some states.
