The Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) was named for the Gila River Basin and occurs in parts of the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico and the Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa. It grows to about 50 cm (about 20 inches), is stout-bodied with black and pink blotches or bands, and has beadlike scales. They are the largest lizards in the United States.
During warm weather the Gila monster feeds at night on small mammals, birds, and eggs. Fat stored in the tail and abdomen at this time is utilized during the winter months. The large head and muscular jaws of the Gila monster yield a strong bite that is held while venom seeps into the wound. Many teeth have two grooves that conduct the venom, a nerve poison, from glands in the lower jaw. Bites, as well as fatalities, to humans are rare, and the last known report of a death from Gila monster bite occurred in 1939.
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