Wild About Monsters

The excitement in her voice could not be more obvious as I answered her call. “Dad, there’s a Gila Monster walking down the middle of my jogging trail right now”. She was only a few minutes away so I ask her to follow it until I could get there. I arrived in time to film it wading through the desert grasses as it made its way back to its den. It’s always a good day when you see a Gila Monster in the wild. Monster sightings are not common in the Southwest corner of Utah even though they are quite abundant in this portion of the Mojave Desert. There’s a reason encounters with these beaded citizens of the desert are uncommon. They can spend more than 90% of their lives underground. Their activity is mostly limited to a few weeks in early Spring, and they generally emerge to forage in late evening, returning to their dens at dawn. Because of their exceptionally slow metabolism, they can survive on as few as three or four large meals a year. Those meals converted into fat, stored primarily in their tails, allows them to spend 10- or 11-months estivating (hibernating) out of sight, in their dens.

Despite their fierce reputation Gila Monsters are shy nonthreatening creatures. I have had them walk across my sandal clad feet on more than one occasion. If hassled these monsters will open their mouth and hiss loudly as a warning, but to get bitten by one would require handling it. They have venom, but lack a mechanism to inject it, so they must flood their mouth with the venom, filling grooved teeth by capillary attraction. They then must chew it into their prey. A Gila Monster bit should receive medical attention, but despite the legends we have all heard to the contrary, there is no reputable record of human death associated with Gila Monster envenomation. To the contrary, the saliva of Gila Monsters contains a compound called exendin-4, which has been synthesized into a drug used successfully to treat type 2 diabetes. This is a prime example of how the study of wildlife can lead to significant contributions to human wellbeing. It underscores the need to protect and preserve wildlife of all kinds. The Gila Monster is the official Utah state reptile, and they enjoy legal protection here and, in every state, where they occur. (CA, NV, UT, NM & AZ)

Several years ago, I had the rare opportunity of filming a Gila Monster excavate and consume four tortoise eggs from the apron of a tortoise den. The entire time a female tortoise stood inches away and observed the carnage without moving a muscle. I found myself wishing I knew how to communicate with tortoises so I could scream out “good grief mother, do something to protect your young”. Times like this create a moral dilemma. Do I intervein in this situation or let nature take its course. On this day I chose the latter.

I’m Professor Marshall Topham and I’m wild about Utah’s Gila Monsters

Credits:

Images Courtesy & Copyright
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Friend Weller, https://www.upr.org/people/friend-wellerCourtesy & Copyright © Anderson, Howe, Wakeman
Text: Marshall Topham, https://ees.utahtech.edu/faculty-staff/
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah pieces by Marshall Topham https://wildaboututah.org/author/marshall-topham/

Gila Monster, Fieldbook of Utah Species, Utah Division of Wildlife Services, Utah Department of Natural Resources, https://fieldguide.wildlife.utah.gov/?species=heloderma%20suspectum

Jolley, Faith Heaton, A rare sighting of the elusive Gila monster, Wildlife Blog, Utah Division of Wildlife Services, Utah Department of Natural Resources, March 28, 2019 https://wildlife.utah.gov/news/wildlife-blog/580-a-rare-sighting-of-the-elusive-gila-monster.html

Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, Washington County & US Bureau of Land Management, http://www.redcliffsdesertreserve.com/