Gila Monster
| Class: Reptilia:
Reptiles |
Diet: Small mammals,
eggs |
| Order:
Squamata: Lizards and Snakes |
| Size: body:45
- 61 cm (17 3/4 - 24 in) |
| Family: Helodermatidae:
Gila Monster |
Conservation Status: Near-threatened
|
| Scientific Name:
Heloderma suspectum |
Habitat: arid and
semiarid areas with some vegetation |
| Range:
Southwestern U.S.A.: Southern Utah, Arizona to New Mexico; Mexico |
 This
formidable, heavy-bodied lizard has a short, usually stout tail, in which
it can store fat for use in periods of food shortage. It is gaudily patterned
and has brightly colored beadlike scales on its back. The gila lives on
the ground and shelters under rocks or in a burrow, which it digs itself
or takes over from another animal. It is primarily nocturnal but may emerge
during the day in spring. The two members of the gila monster family are
the only venomous lizards. The venom is produced in glands in the lower
jaw and enters the mouth via grooved teeth at the front of the lower jaw;
it flows into the victim as the lizard chews. The gila also eats the eggs
of birds and reptiles. Gila monsters mate in the summer, and the female
lays 3 to 5 eggs some time later, in the autumn or winter.
  
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