King cobra

Scientific Name: Ophiophagus hannah

Nick Name: - - - -

Size: 18 ft long; 3.5 m, 5.5 m on max

Appearance: Smooth, shiny scales; distinct light cross bands mainly on the forebody; large head scales edges with black. Uniformly olive, brown, or green. The underside is a lighter shade of the body colour. The yellow bands on the snake's back are more obvious in the light coloured specimens from Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.

Type of Venom: Powerful neurotoxin, 60 spoons of it in a strike, which is 10 times more than most other common venomous snakes

Nature: Very Aggressive, Cannibalistic

Distribution: India, Thailand, southern China, Malaysia Peninsula, and Philippines.

         Rare in India, King Cobras are confined mostly to the dense forests of the Western Ghats and the northern hill forests. Nilgiris, Plains and Western Ghats upto Goa, the Himalayan foot hills (upto 2000 m) starting near Lahore in Pakistan through North Indian to Assam. Forests of Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and the Andamans.

Habitat: Dense jungle and cultivated fields.

Feeds on: Mostly avoids attacking another venomous snake for fear of being bitten, feeds exclusively on harmless species.

Side Line:

• Longest Venomous Snake in the World !
• Appears to have a degree of intelligence. It  usually avoids attacking another venomous snake for fear of being bitten; though capable gulping them down.
• The female builds a nest then deposits her eggs. Lying close by, she guards the nest and is highly aggressive toward anything that closely approaches the nest.
• Both the parents take care of the young.
• There are myths about the snake that it can stand on its tail and look into your eyes and hypnotise you, its not at all true. Although this snake is long enough to do that, it cant stand or balance itself on its tail. When an adult snake decides to stand its ground, it can see right into your eyes. 6 metre venomous snake is not a joke, especially when it is the most venomous snake in the whole world !