Stock Photo Description: A Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum) was seen swimming in the middle of the Agua Fria River. It was seen in midcurrent, about 3 m from either bank of the swiftly running river. It was actively swimming and keeping itself upright and the top of its head above water. It continued swimming midcurrent for the next 3:30 minutes to about 100 m downstream. It then ran into a willow snag, which it caught a hold of and drug itself onto. Since the snag was still midcurrent, and the lizard had no obvious way of getting ashore, I took it to a sandbar to take photographs. It was still quite energetic and vigorously fought any attempt to handle it. After about 5 minutes, it started to walk away. Since the sandbar was also midriver, there was no terrestrial route to take to get ashore. The lizard walked back upriver on the sandbar about 10 m. It then went to the water edge, licked the surface of the water and dipped a front foot in. It then proceeded to swim across the river again. It again pulled itself out at the same snag. This time, I moved the lizard to the opposite bank, apparently its preferred destination.
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