(fast paced drum music)
- I'm Coyote Peterson,
and I'm about to go underneath a prickly pear cactus
to have a face-to-face encounter
with the only venomous lizard in the United States.
I absolutely love my job, all right,
this is gonna get interesting.
(moves to dramatic violin music)
(leopard snarl)
(moves to fast paced drum music)
(lion growl)
(moves to gentle xylophone music)
(gravel rustling) (wind blowing)
This morning we're in Tucson, Arizona,
headed out into the heartland
of gila monster territory, the Sonoran desert.
We have been notified by a local rancher
that one of these rare lizards
has taken up residence on a hillside of his property.
This time of day, gila monsters
will emerge from their burrows
to bask in the morning sun.
What I wanna do is stay hunkered down
and watch from a distance with binoculars.
If this elusive reptile does indeed reveal itself,
I will have en excellent opportunity
to encounter this notorious desert dweller.
To do that, I will quickly position myself
between the lizard and its burrow,
and carefully capture it with my bare hands.
This will be the best way for me to ensure
the safety of the animal,
while I show you some of its most unique qualities.
(moves to slow and dramatic violin music)
(camera gear shuffling)
I see him.
(gravel rustling)
He's out.
(moves to dramatic drum music)
And he's underneath the prickly pear cactus,
which is gonna make it a little more challenging,
all right, he's?
All right he's moving a little bit,
okay, this is gonna be our opportunity,
Chance, you go up this way, Mark, follow me.
(gravel rustling)
There he is right there, you see him, okay.
From back here, look, you can see him puffing.
- [Crewman] Yeah.
- You see his tongue sticking out?
Right there, look at his head, right in the sunlight.
And what I wanna do
is carefully work my way behind the lizard,
try to create a barrier between it and its den.
All right.
It's turning back towards its den,
okay, I'm just gonna go.
(gravel rustling) - [Crewman] Yup.
- All right, here we go, there his is.
All right, I got the den behind me at this point.
Now I'm gonna do, is safely and gently,
grab ahold of him right behind his head,
so that I don't risk getting bit.
All right, ready?
- [Crewman] Yup.
- Okay, got him.
Yes!
Look at him, wow!
Totally worth the stakeout.
And that is the gila monster.
The only venomous lizard in the United States.
These reptiles typically are not very aggressive,
it is not very often that people
are bitten by gila monsters.
And they say that only a fool
who mishandles a gila monsters, ever receives a bite.
Now what's really interesting
about the tongue of the gila monster
is it's forked, just like a snake.
They run that over what's called the Jacobson's organ,
on the top of the skull, in the roof of the mouth.
And that's like this gila monster's
little personal computer,
that's bringing all sorts of chemicals
from potential prey, predators, and its environment.
Now the venom glands on this lizard
are in the lower jaw.
Your scales on the outside,
and below that are four venom glands.
When they actually find something
that they're going to capture, bite, and envenomate,
those teeth that they have are not like fangs.
They're these long, kinda sharp, monster-looking teeth,
and when they grab onto something, they gnaw and gnaw.
And that gnawing works the venom into their saliva,
and then into their victim.
Now the scientific name of the gila monster,
Heloderma, means nail-studded skin.
This lizard is absolutely built for this desert terrain.
All these little bumps running down his back
are actually little osteoderms,
and osteoderms are little tiny pieces of bone
covered in scale.
Now this guy pretty much
has a bullet proof vest on his back.
Gila monsters are incredibly intelligent reptiles.
They will often follow the trail of a mammal,
and go right back to its burrow.
Now if that mammal has babies in the burrow, he's got lunch.
If it doesn't have any babies,
they will actually remember where that burrow was at,
and return several times until
there's something in there to eat.
And then of course, they have their meal.
(moves to dramatic violin music)
If you're unfortunate enough to be bitten by a gila monster,
it's gonna be one of the
most painful experiences you've ever gone through,
and the only way to get this reptile off of you
is to actually submerge it into a bucket of water.
Once it lets go, remember, this is venomous,
and you're gonna wanna get yourself
to the hospital as soon as possible.
The venom's not as potent as a rattlesnake,
but I'll tell you what,
they say it's about as painful
as lava coursing through your veins.
Wow, what an incredible encounter,
with the only venomous lizard
that lives in the United States,
one of my favorites.
But I wanna know what your favorite lizards are.
Leave me your list in the comment section below.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see ya on the next adventure.
All right, I'ma put this guy up in the shade
so that he can cool off back in his burrow,
and we're gonna go get some ice cream.
It's scorching out here.
(gravel rustling)
If you thought this episode was fascinating,
make sure to go back and watch
my most painful encounter of all time,
as I get the camera too close,
and am accidentally bitten by a gila monster.
And don't forget, subscribe
so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
(bear roar) (bird wings fluttering)
(birds chirping) (coyote howl)