encroaching agriculture and irrigation usurping its habitat,
along with illegal poaching for sale into the international
pet market, this close relative of the Gila Monster from
America’s southwest has nearly died out.
‘Currently, it is
estimated that less
than 200 individuals
exist in the wild.’
Local superstitions, too, contribute to its demise. Through-
out millennia, terrified locals, believing the Heloderma had
‘bad-magic’ powers, have killed them on sight. First
described in 1988, the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard was
originally identified as one of four subspecies of the
Mexican Beaded Lizard (Heloderma horridum). Although all
were apparently elevated to separate species in 2013, the
GBL is nevertheless often still referred to as a subspecies.
For a while, it was actually thought to have gone extinct,
until the government organization, Fundación para las especies
amenazadas de Guatemala (FUNDSGUA), rediscovered GBL
populations in 2003. This Guatemalan foundation works
for the preservation of endangered species neglected by
other conservation groups whose primary focus is on wild-
life with more charisma, like the jaguar.
Currently, it is estimated that less than 200 individuals exist
in the wild. And to exacerbate the situation, the
Guatemalan Beaded Lizard is a ‘flagship’ species for
conservationists’ marketing campaigns; in other words, if
the Heloderma die out, their extinction will adversely affect
other biota in this harsh, yet richly bio-diverse habitat,
which could result in the imminent disappearance of other
species of fauna and flora.
Here, behind the scenes of Chehaw’s Herp House, Ben
Roberts displays the lizard for my husband Gustavo and I.
He holds the Heloderma with both hands, supporting the
robust tail, which is roughly as long as the reptile’s body,
and contains fat reserves, to sustain the animal through the
lean months. The spring rainy season in its native
Motaguan wasteland - the only time food is plentiful - only
lasts for two months, followed by ten months of little to no
precipitation. GBLs will gorge themselves when resources
are abundant, with the eggs and hatchlings of birds that
seasonally nest in the region comprising a major
component of their diet. Eggs of the endangered
Guatemalan Spiny-tailed Iguana (Ctenosaura palearis), which
is sympatric with the GBL, may also be an important food
item, thereby entwining the fate of the two species.
Left: ‘Tasting the air.’ Image by reptiles4all.
Above: ‘Esteban’ is removed from his enclosure
using a handling tool.
Image courtesy Vickie Lillo.