contributed to their demise. The celebrated case of an
Arizona pool hall proprietor, who died in 1930 just two
hours after being bitten, is the last recorded instance of
death resulting from a Gila Monster bite. However,
witnesses alluded to suspicious circumstances, including
the fact that the man was ‘quite drunk at the time’. In the
1950s, Hollywood joined the fray with ‘The Giant Gila
Monster’ – a B-grade horror movie about a homicidal
lizard twice the size of a bus. Today, it is generally
accepted that no healthy adult human, who has received
appropriate medical attention, has ever succumbed to a
bite from a Gila Monster. That is not to say that a bite
should not be taken seriously. Excruciating pain – once
described as being ‘like hot lava coursing through your
veins’ - is accompanied by a suite of other symptoms
including swelling, nausea, vomiting, sweating,
tachycardia and a rapid drop in blood pressure, and
patients have been known to require intensive care.
pursuit they are assisted by acute sensory powers and a
sharp memory, together with the protection afforded by a
skin that is covered with small bony osteoderms (the
name Heloderma comes from the Greek helos, meaning
head of a nail, plus derma, or skin). Often somewhat
unfairly characterised as sluggish and sedentary, the
helodermatids do possess an extremely low resting
metabolism that enables them to survive long periods
without food; this is aided by fat stored in the tail.
Surprisingly, however, the Gila Monster has also been
demonstrated to have an exceedingly high aerobic
capacity, and it is speculated that this may prove
advantageous in prolonged ritual combat between males.
In 1930, an Arizona pool
Named after the Gila River in Arizona and New Mexico,
the Gila Monster is the largest living native lizard in the
United States, and may attain an overall length in excess
of 50 centimetres, and a weight of more than 2 kilo-
grams. Together with its relative, the Mexican Beaded
Lizard (H. horridum), these are the last of the family
Helodermatidae; living fossils that have remained
virtually unchanged for more than 20 million years. They
are more closely related to snakes than they are to most
other lizards, and form the final vestiges of an ancient
lineage that can be traced back almost 100 million years.
Helodermatid lizards are specialist predators, raiding
vertebrate nests to consume both eggs and young. In this
go World
hall proprietor died
just two hours after
being bitten, but he
was ‘quite drunk at
the time’.
Despite the early weight of anecdotal evidence linking
the Gila Monster with painful envenomations, the
scientific community remained unconvinced. The species
name suspectum was chosen by paleontologist Edward
Drinker Cope because he believed the animal may be
venomous due to telltale grooves in its teeth. Perhaps in
response to an article about Gila Monsters in the
20 February 1873
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ila Monster).
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Image by Jon Manjeot.