The Guatemalan Beaded Lizard is feared by local people due to its long-standing notoriety as a highly venomous and very dangerous animal. According to myth: The lizard stings with its tail (thus the vernacular name of "Scorpion"); its venom is so powerful that it can pass through the shadows of people and envenomate them; the lizard explodes when it is touched; its breath can make people feel dizzy and disoriented in the field. One of the most beautiful stories about the reptile probably originated with the Mayan civilization that lived in the Motagua Valley: Supposedly this lizard attracts the electricity of the sky, and any spot where lightning strikes is where a Guatemalan Beaded Lizard is hidden underground.
An Aztec tale explains how "Acaltetepón", the Beaded Lizard, got his bumpy skin. Long ago, Aztec farmers in the tropical deciduous forest would plant their corn crops in the hot, dry period preceding the summer rains, then wait for the quenching rains to nourish their fields. One year, the rains did not come and the worried people called on Acaltetepón for help. They persuaded him to visit their fields with an offering of eggs. After feeding on the eggs, Acaltetepón retreated to his burrow beneath the corn crop, and immediately the life-giving rains came to produce the most bountiful crop the people had harvested in many years. And even today, the skin of Acaltetepón bears the small kernels of corn as a reminder of his supernatural powers to affect the weather.
Zootropic has been working hard on environmental education efforts to change the minds of local people about this species and to involve them in conservation strategies.
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