Common Cobra

Photographed by © Natasha Mhatre

Scientific Name: Naja naja

Nick Name: Asiatic cobra, Naga

Size: Average 1.2 meters, maximum 2.1 meters.

Appearance: Usually slate gray to brown overall. The back of the hood may or may not have a pattern. smooth, shiny scales; wide head and neck; wide black band on underside of neck; The underside is usually white or yellowish with a wide dark neck band. The body is generally covered with a speckled white or yellow pattern, sometimes forming ragged bands. The cobras of northwest India are blackish and have a barely distinguishable hood marking.

Venom: highly neurotoxic

Nature: When aroused or threatened, the cobra will lift its head off the ground and spread its hood, making it more menacing.

Distribution: All of Asia.

     The Spectacled Cobra is the most widely distributed of the generally accepted 3 sub -species of cobras in Indian and is one of the big four dangerous snakes, 6 species of cobras occur in Asia and 9 in Africa. The jet black cobras occur in Asia and 9 in Africa. The jet black cobra of northwest India and Pakistan is another sub-species or geographic race. Except for its colour and absence of hood marking, it is very similar to the spectacled Cobra.

     In India cobras are enountered even at hieghts of 4000 m from the sea level (in the Himalayas).

Habitat: Found in any habitat cultivated farms, swamps, open fields, and human dwelling where it searches for rodents.

Feeds on: Mainly Rats and other rodents,  frogs, toads, birds and small snakes.

Side Line:

• "Cobra" is the Portuguese common name for a snake; it came from late Latin *colobra (for classical coluber, colubra). When Portuguese navigators arrived to the coasts of Africa and South Asia in the 16th century, they named the cobras "cobra-capelo" = "hood-snake"; from this compound, the name entered Spanish, French, English, and other European languages.
• Three different patterns can be seen on its hood depending on the species of snake in question. 

                           1. Mono spectacle 

                           2. Bi spectacle and

                           3. Spectacle less.

>> Although Monocled or Mono Spectacle cobra was formerly considered as a sub species of Cobra, now it is said to be a different species altogether ! <<

•  Cobras are often confused with the Indian rat snakes, which have a much thinner neck and head, and become 3 metres long, a metre more than do the biggest Indian cobras.

True Cobras:

• Africa
   - Spitting cobra, (Various species)
   - Egyptian Cobra, Naja haje
   - Cape Cobra, Naja nivea

   

• Asia
   - Indian Cobra, Naja naja
   - Monocled Cobra, Naja naja kaouthia
   - Black Cobra, Naja naja oxiana

• Despite the names, the following snakes are not strictly classified as cobras and do not belong to the cobra genus Naja.
   - Eastern Water Cobra, Boulengerina annulata stormsi
   - Gold's Tree Cobra, Psuedohaje goldii
   - Shield-Nosed Cobra, Aspidelaps lubricus lubricus
   - King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah
   - False Cobra, Malpolon moilensis