Gila Monster

Many people think that colorful lizards are the venomous ones. This is one example of the many misunderstandings towards lizards in general people's knowledge. There are 5,000 species of lizards in the world but only 2 are truly venomous. The Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum) is one.

But in fact, these monsters are not so harmful as they sound like. My experience tells that so many non-venomous lizards can hurt people worse than the Gila monsters do. The venom is a neurotoxin similar to that of a western diamondback rattler, but bites and human fatalities are rare. Oppositely, recent researches proved that the Gila monster's venom can become a treat for diabetes.