🦎 Gila monster report template
Three versions, one page each. Print the one for your child’s grade. The facts come from the gila monster page, every number with its source.
Grades 1–2
My report: the gila monster
Heloderma suspectum · Grades 1–2
| Length | 22 in (56 cm) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 16 oz (450 g) |
| Top speed | 1.5 mph (2.4 km/h) |
| How long it lives | 20 years |
Read about it
The Gila monster is a slow, chunky lizard with bumpy orange and black skin. It lives in the desert. Most of the time it hides in a burrow.
It lives in:
It eats:
The coolest thing I learned:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, Saguaro National Park, nps.gov/sagu/learn/nature/gila-monster.htm, checked 2026-10-30
- Smithsonian's National Zoo, nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/gila-monster, checked 2026-10-30
Grades 3–4
My report: the gila monster
Heloderma suspectum · Grades 3–4
| Length | 22 in (56 cm) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 16 oz (450 g) |
| Top speed | 1.5 mph (2.4 km/h) |
| How long it lives | 20 years |
Read about it
The Gila monster, said HEE-luh, has bumpy orange and black skin, a color pattern that warns other animals to stay away. It spends most of its time underground in a burrow or under a rock, out of the hot desert sun. Its tail stores fat, so it can live off its own body between meals when food is hard to find.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, Saguaro National Park, nps.gov/sagu/learn/nature/gila-monster.htm, checked 2026-10-30
- Smithsonian's National Zoo, nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/gila-monster, checked 2026-10-30
Grades 5–6
My report: the gila monster
Heloderma suspectum · Grades 5–6
| Length | 22 in (56 cm) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 16 oz (450 g) |
| Top speed | 1.5 mph (2.4 km/h) |
| How long it lives | 20 years |
Read about it
Gila monsters are among the few venomous lizards in the world, and their venom comes from glands in the lower jaw. They are shy and slow and spend most of the year underground, so they rarely meet people; if you ever see one, leave it alone. A medicine for people with diabetes was developed from a substance in Gila monster saliva. Laws in several states protect these lizards.
Habitat and range: where on Earth, and what the place is like:
Diet: what it eats, and what might eat it:
Adaptations: two ways its body or habits help it survive:
Is it in danger? Why or why not?:
Compare it with another animal you know:
Bibliography: write each source below as site, page title, date checked:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, Saguaro National Park, nps.gov/sagu/learn/nature/gila-monster.htm, checked 2026-10-30
- Smithsonian's National Zoo, nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/gila-monster, checked 2026-10-30