Yesterday evening I was hiking out past Kraft Mountain in Red Rocks and literally stumbled upon this guy sitting right on the trail! Very excited! Since I was little this has been one of my favorite lizards, but I'd never seen one in the wild.
This is one of only two poisonous lizards in the world, both of which live in the desert southwest and northern Mexico. The other type, the Mexican beaded lizard, looks similar but with more yellow coloration. As you can see from the pictures this guy was pretty healthy. I think that he/she is more or less full grown (about 16" or so). The poison, I think, is a type of bacterial toxin that it carries in the saliva. It has normal rows of teeth, no fangs or anything like that. The bite is supposedly quite painful but not lethal for humans. I think you'd have to work pretty hard to get bitten considering how docile this one was.
I just did a little research and found out some interesting stuff... first of all the poison is an actual toxin produced by the lizard, instead of just bacteria like I thought. Apparently it is a neurotoxin related to rattlesnakes'. Secondly, and more interesting, there are many poisonous lizards according to this article, including iguanas and bearded dragons, which are very common pets!
1 comment:
That is amazing!! I wish I'd been there. I was excited to see that desert tortoise, but a gila monster?! WOW! Great pictures of him, too. Welcome home. I'll call when my phone is charged.
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