Gila Monster…Endangered species
Posted by Pete | Posted in News | Posted on 24-04-2012
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The Gila Monster is the largest native lizard and is the only poisonous lizard found in the United States. This orange and black lizard can be found in the Gila River Valley and Peloncillo Mountains of southwestern New Mexico. The Gila Monster lives in desert scrub and rocky canyons and spends about 90 % of its time underground in rocky crevices and abandoned burrows. The Gila Monster feeds on nestling rabbits, rodents and bird and reptile eggs. As sluggish as they look,they can move surprisingly fast and should not be handled. New Mexico lists the gila monster as endangered. photo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_Monster.
Neat Information! I have always wondered what the difference was between a poisonous lizard and a non-poisonous one. Now I won’t have to assume, as I do with snakes, that all are poisonous. Now I won’t have to worry in my backyard unless I run into one that has alot of orange. Most I’ve seen have ugly looking stripes and look mean but are probably harmless. I’ve often wondered what I would do if I lived back in the age of dinosaurs and ran upon one of these so-called harmless ones with a size and weight multiplied by about a 1000. I don’t believe I would stop to ask if he was harmless.
I have been on parts of the Gila River but I have never seen a Gila Monster….Thank goodness for that. I am not all that brave when confronted with lizards and snakes…
If Gila Monsters spend 90% of their time hiding underground, in rocky crevices,and in abandoned burrows, I wonder how they know if they are really endangered. Perhaps the only ones that are endangered are the 10% that come out into broad daylight. Perhaps the counters need to go underground for a full count.