Gila monsters, despite their unsavory reputation unfairly perpetuated by film classics such as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Giant Gila Monster,* are actually quite beneficial to humanity. Sure, they can be over two feet long, are venomous, and bite tenaciously. However, their saliva (which contains a cobra-quality neurotoxin) is the source for the drug exenatide, which helps Type 2 diabetes patients control their blood sugar without the weight gain characterized by most other diabetes drugs. Their venom is also composed of polypeptides which show great potential for treating lung cancer and Alzheimer's.
Besides, with their bright colors, corpulent tails, and beaded epidermis, they are just so darn cute!
*Please visit the website of californiaherps.com for a more complete list of Gila monsters in movies and the Turner Classic Movies website to view the relevant portion (starting at about 1:25 in the clip) of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
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| By Josh Olander (Josh Olander) [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
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