ENEM 2025 Question Highlights Gila Monster’s Role in Ozempic’s Origins

Overview

• On the second test day, the ENEM included an item on Heloderma suspectum that linked its digestive traits and venom to the mechanism of GLP-1 drugs.
• Teachers say the question assessed adaptation concepts by asking students to identify the Brazilian biome analogous to the lizard’s desert habitat.
• According to Instituto Butantan, the reptile eats birds, small lizards, rodents, and eggs, can consume up to half its body weight at once, and may go months without feeding.
• The species lives in arid and semi-arid regions, shelters in burrows during hot months, hibernates in winter, is native to northwestern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, and is not found in Brazil.
• Scientists identified exendin-4 in the animal’s venom, a discovery that enabled GLP-1 therapies; Ozempic treats type 2 diabetes and is widely associated with weight loss, while the lizard’s bite can cause complications in humans.