Heloderma horridum is one of the few known venomous lizards in the world. Their populations are in decline due to habitat destruction and capture for the pet trade. In México, many zoos have decided to take care of this species, most of them at altitudes greater than the natural altitudinal distribution. However, we know little about the capacity of the reptiles to face high-altitude environments. The objective of this study was to compare hematological traits of H. horridum in captivity in high and low altitude environments. Our findings show that H. horridum does not respond to hypoxic environments, at least in blood traits, and that the organisms appear to be in homeostasis. Although we cannot know if individual H. horridum housed in high-altitude environments are completely comfortable, it appears hypoxia can be avoid without modifications of blood parameters. We suggest that future work should address changes in metabolic rates and in behavioral aspects to understand how to maintain the health and comfort of the reptiles native to low altitude when they are housed in high-altitude environments.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥圈养的串珠蜥蜴（Heloderma Horridum）的海拔和福利低氧：血液学方法。

贺氏皮肤病是世界上为数不多的已知有毒蜥蜴之一。由于栖息地的破坏和宠物贸易的捕获，他们的人口在减少。在墨西哥，许多动物园已决定照顾这一物种，其中大多数海拔高于自然海拔分布。但是，我们对爬行动物面对高海拔环境的能力知之甚少。这项研究的目的是比较高海拔和低海拔环境下圈养大戟的血液学特征。我们的发现表明，至少在血液性状上，H。horridum对低氧环境没有反应，而且这些生物似乎处于体内平衡状态。尽管我们不知道安置在高海拔环境中的单个H. horridum是否完全舒适，似乎无需改变血液参数即可避免缺氧。我们建议未来的工作应解决新陈代谢率和行为方面的变化，以了解在高海拔环境中居住时爬行动物的健康和舒适度。