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The Venomous Lizards - Gila Monster and Mexican Beaded Lizard!

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 2 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

Ranked #2479 in Animals, #59280 overall

Rated G. (Control what you see)

Venomous Lizards with a Potentially Beneficial Lizard Spit!

 

I owe a lot to these venomous lizards--Gila Monsters--for the past 26 years of my writing and editing career. It was because of my love for lizards and an employer's love of lizards that I got my first job as a technical editor/writer. Go figure, eh? (More on that later...)

These lizards are dangerous--their bites are extremely painful and have resulted in death for many of those bitten. Although the lizards are shy and seemingly sluggish, they can be extremely quick to attack and bite when cornered or handled.

An interesting side to their venom is that researchers studying the lizards' habit of going long times between meals and how their saliva (venomous) helps them to digest their food, discovered that a component of the venom/saliva affects insulin production in a way that might be helpful to diabetes sufferers. This research is now resulting in a manufactured drug production of an "analog" of the lizard venom. It has been jokingly referred to as "Lizard Spit"!

This Squidoo is a tribute to these fascinating critters--and it describes a bit about their biology and their habits. Be sure to scroll to the bottom, see the sights, and drop a note to show you visited!

Gila Monster in the Sonoran Desert 

Gila Monster Returns

Glow the Gila Monster returns after 25 days! Great closeups & action shots, in addition to ORVs.

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The Creepy Creature Feature of the North American Continent--Gila Monsters and Mexican Beaded Lizards 

When I was a Boy Scout living in New Mexico, I had a rare chance to see a live Gila Monster while on one of our camp-outs. Because we had studied a lot about the hazards of the desert--including rattlesnakes, scorpions, black widows, and so on (including gila monsters)--we were immensely aware of how dangerous this thing was. We all had a chance to take a good look at this seemingly fearless animal by the side of the road where we were hiking before our troop leader herded us back to our task of hiking to our camp site. We encountered a few rattlesnakes also before we made it to camp. After the weekend campout of a Friday evening, all day Saturday, and returning Sunday afternoon, we had seen many of the "dangerous critters" of the southwestern U.S. desert--and my fascination with nature and biology was sparked.

Well, You Might Not Want a Real One on Your Shirt, but Hey, a Picture of One is Nice! 

Save the GILA MONSTERS Women's T-Shirt

Save the GILA MONSTERS t-shirts, stickers and gifts for GILA MONSTERS lovers.

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Lick Diabetes Kids T-Shirt

Support research for the cure of Juvenile Diabetes. 10% of proceeds are donated to the <a href="http://www.jdrf.org">Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation</a>.<br /><br />

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Gila Monster (Front only) Yellow T-Shirt

This Gila Monster drawing/illustration is a perfect Gila gift on t-shirts,sweatshirts,hoodies,mugs,hats,apparel,tees,stickers and artwork for your favorite Gila lover or as a Gila gift for you.

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Another Video of a Gila Monster in its Environment--The Sonoran Desert 

Gila Monster in the Wild

Gila Monster (Reticulated) in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona - wild and free -- great closeups!

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Gila Monsters--You Can Read About 'Em, or Just Watch 'Em! 

Either Way, Get Your Fun Here!

Out From Under the Rock

Out From Under the Rock

John "Big Nick" Samora- Lead Vocals & more...0 points

Gila Monster, Heloderma Suspectum Photographic Poster Print by Erwin Nielsen, 12x16

Gila Monster, Heloderma Suspectum Photographic Poster Print by Erwin Nielsen, 12x16

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Gila Monsters by the Bay ... eBay, that is! 

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New YouTube vids 


Gila Monster egg

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Big Dinosaur-Like Lizard Critters! Gila Monster Cousins! 

Monitor Lizards and Komodo Dragons
Yup. The Gila Monsters are big (as far as U.S. lizards go). However, if you really want to see BIG LIZARDS, check out this Squidoo lens. Jurassic Park never had it this good!
Crocodiles, Alligators, Gharials, and Caimans!
Okay, you want to see more large dinosaur-like reptiles? This Squidoo provides some information on the crocodilians and has some videos as well.

Gila Monsters Captured (In Images, That Is!) 

Forked Tongue by xoque

Forked Tongue

Gila Monster by xoque

Gila Monster

Gila Monster by szlea

Gila Monster

Steinhaus Brewing - Gila Monster by Sonnett

Steinhaus Brewing -...

Gila Monster by Eric Kilby

Gila Monster

Well, Don't Speak With Forked Tongue--Write a Note Here! 

NAIZA

What a creepy lizards! But, they are very flexible reptiles! I never seen this kind of specie I mean because it is so rare. Great lens and very educational! I really learned a lot. Another quality lens!

Posted May 15, 2008

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EditorDave

About EditorDave

Living on Guam is what now "defines" me.  It was such a dramatic difference in my life and outlook on things that there's no way I'd be the same if I had remained in New Mexico or any of the rest of the U.S. Mainland.   One of the classes I took at the University of Guam was "Scientific and Technical Writing and Editing"... I did not realize at the time that this class would be setting the foundation for the rest of my working life.  I found that I *love* words and fooling around with making them work as best as possible.  I also took classes in formal linguistics at the University of Guam--and took classes in Japanese, Russian, Mandarin Chinese. These classes helped me to become comfortable with working with translations of technical material into English from other languages.  I can help folks with making their words work for the particular audience they are writing for.

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