The Gila Monster

Location: Sonoran Desert in Tuscon Arizona
Species: Gila Monster
Added: 2025-12-6
Published: 2014-9-14
Source: Brave Wilderness

Coyote Peterson heads out to the Sonoran Desert in Tuscon Arizona in search of the only venomous lizard in the United States, the Gila monster. This lizard is not typically aggressive but its bite is excruciatingly painful, often de-scribed as severe with burning pain like "hot lava".
The Gila Monster spends about 95% of its time under-ground in burrows, rock crevices, or abandoned packrat nests, emerging to hunt for eggs and small animals, so sightings are rare.
These carnivores are classified as near threatened, and they are native to Arizona, Califor-nia and Mexico.