A Gila monster that bit its owner in Lakewood on Feb. 12, leading to the man's death, was returned to Colorado this week and sent to a lab in Greeley on Thursday for testing on the reptile's venom.

Lizard venom has played a crucial part in helping humans take a bite out of diabetes and obesity. The Gila monster is a large, magnificent and venomous desert-dwelling reptile found throughout the ...

The report lists the cause of death for the 34-year-old man as complications of Gila monster envenomation – essentially an injury, in this case, a bite, by a venomous animal of some kind.

FILE – A Gila monster is displayed at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Dec. 14, 2018. A 34-year-old Colorado man has died on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, after being bitten by his pet gila monster in ...

Christopher Ward's death from a Gila monster bite is thought to be the first in the U.S. in about a century. Laws on keeping Gila monsters as pets vary from state to state.

Eng set about studying the Gila monster's venom and discovered a compound that had never been identified, one he dubbed exendin-4. It seemed similar to a human gut hormone called GLP-1, ...

Gila monster that bit owner before his death back in Colorado 02:52. The cause of death has been released for the man who died after he was bitten by his pet Gila monster.Christopher Ward, 34 ...

A Gila monster is displayed at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Dec. 14, 2018. A 34-year-old Colorado man died on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, after being bitten by his pet Gila monster in a very rare ...

AP FILE – A Gila monster is displayed at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Dec. 14, 2018. A 34-year-old Colorado man has died on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, after being bitten by his pet gila monster ...

The Gila monster, which is native to the deserts of North America, can survive on just a few meals a year, thanks to a digestion-slowing hormone in its venom.

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — A Lakewood man who died last month after he was bitten by one of his pet Gila monsters died from "complications" from the lizard's venom, according to an autopsy report ...