🦎Gila monster
The Gila monster is a species of venomous lizard native to the Southwestern United States and the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is a heavy, slow-moving reptile, up to 22 in (56 cm) long, and it is the only venomous lizard native to the United States. Its venomous close relatives, the four beaded lizards inhabit Mexico and Guatemala. The Gila monster is sluggish in nature, so it is not generally dangerous and very rarely poses a real threat to humans. Nonetheless, it has a fearsome reputation and is sometimes killed despite the species being protected by state law in Arizona.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2007.
- Body mass
- 0.55 kg
- Body length
- not recorded
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 29 years
Everything we know about the Gila monster
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass0.55 kgrecord 0.98 kg · ReptTraitsAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Record: largest individual on record
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Maximum lifespan29 yearsrecord 48 years · ReptTraitsAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Record: largest individual on record
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
DietCarnivorousReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleCathemeralReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Foraging modeACTReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
VenomousYesReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Snout–vent length0.36 mmaximum recordedReptTraitsOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
By sex
- Female0.3 mReptTraitsv1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024)
Volume l0.6 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Gila monster yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classSquamata
- ›familyHelodermatidae
- ›genusHeloderma
- ›speciesHeloderma suspectum
- orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
- infraorderAnguimorpha
- familyHelodermatidae
- genusHeloderma
All 13 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- orderSauria
- superorderLepidosauria
- orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
- infraorderAnguimorpha
- familyHelodermatidae
- genusHeloderma
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