Its warty black and pink skin covered a body as large around as my forearm, and nearly two feet long, with a fat tail and stumpy legs. The lizard opened its mouth, revealing a double row of sharp, pointed teeth, and hissed loudly. Gila monsters and their cousins, Mexican beaded lizards, are the only two venomous lizards in the world. Gila monster venom can kill small animals. In humans, the venom is severely painful, and causes swelling, nausea, and weakness, but it is not fatal.
Gila monsters are deceptive.
They look and sound horrific, but these monstruos are nine-tenths bluff and bluster. But a Gila monster's usual response to a threat is to lumber away. It bites only as a last resort. It is not easy to see a Gila monster. Monstruos return to the same crevices and burrows year after year.