Gila Monster
a poisonous lizard also called Sonoran heloderm. It is one of the largest lizards of North America, and is found in the sandy deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. Its scales are brilliant orange and jet black. Its bite is rapidly fatal to small mammals and birds, and very injurious, though seldom fatal, to man. The heloderms are the only lizards ascertained to be venomous.
Sir Walter Raleigh, he set out on an expedition (1578-1579) that failed. He set sail from Plymouth in June, 1583, and in August landed in Newfoundland, of which he took formal possession for Queen Elizabeth. He was shipwrecked and drowned Sept. 9, 1583.