40 Fun Facts About King Cobra

What makes up most of a wild king cobra's diet, as the Greek meaning of its genus name Ophiophagus suggests?

Other snakes are the king cobra's main prey, venomous species included, and adults have even been recorded eating smaller king cobras.

A single king cobra bite can deliver enough venom to kill 20 people or which huge land animal?

An elephant can be killed by one king cobra bite, not because the venom is unusually strong drop for drop but because the snake injects so much of it.

The female king cobra is the only snake in the world known to do what for her eggs?

She will build a nest by pushing dead leaves into a mound with her body, then lay her clutch inside and guard it fiercely until hatching time.

The king cobra's unusually low-pitched hiss is most often compared to which other animal sound?

A dog's growl is the usual comparison, because the hiss sits at far lower frequencies than the hisses of most snakes, closer to a human voice.

On which continent do all wild king cobras live, from mangrove swamps to mountain rainforests?

Asia is the king cobra's only home, though many people picture cobras in Egypt: Africa's cobras are different snakes in a separate genus.

How does the venom of a newly hatched king cobra compare with the venom of a full-grown adult?

Just as potent as an adult's, a hatchling's venom makes even a baby under two feet long dangerous, and the young are notably jumpy and quick to strike.

Which country, home to the Western Ghats rainforests, is widely said to have the king cobra as its national reptile?

India is widely said to count the king cobra as its national reptile, and its wildlife law protects the snake, so killing one can mean prison.

Which quick mammal is the biggest natural enemy of cobras, able to bite a snake's neck before a strike lands?

The mongoose shrugs off much of a cobra's venom as well as dodging it: mutated nerve receptors stop the main toxin from binding.

A threatened king cobra spreads its famous hood by flattening which part of its skeleton?

Ribs in the neck flare outward to form the hood, a warning display the king cobra pairs with a deep hiss and a raised body.

Which world record among venomous snakes belongs to the king cobra, which can rear up to an adult's eye level?

Longest is the king cobra's title: adults often reach 3 to 4 metres, and record animals have passed 5.5 metres, about 18 feet.

King cobra venom kills chiefly by shutting down breathing, an attack on which part of the body?

The nervous system is the target: neurotoxins block the signals that work the breathing muscles, so an untreated bite can kill a person in as little as 30 minutes.

In 2010 the IUCN Red List put the king cobra, hunted for skin and meat, in which category?

Vulnerable means the species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild; the king cobra is also listed by CITES, which regulates international trade in it.

Snake charmers sometimes perform with king cobras, which respond to what rather than to the tune being played?

The swaying flute, not its music, holds the snake's attention: a cobra lacks outer ears and tracks the moving instrument as a possible threat.

How do rival male king cobras settle a contest over a female in the breeding season?

By wrestling, in a ritual contest that the first male to push his rival's head to the ground wins.

Which of a king cobra's senses is unusually sharp for a snake, working at ranges of about 100 metres?

Eyesight good enough to pick out a moving person about 330 feet off sets the king cobra apart, and it will rear up simply to see over tall grass.

At what time does a king cobra usually hunt, tracking prey by scent with its forked tongue?

During the day is when it hunts, which is why biologists call the species diurnal; sightings of one feeding at night are rare.

What lets a king cobra go for many months without eating after it has swallowed a large meal?

Slow metabolism means one big meal can fuel a king cobra for months, helped by flexible jaws that let it swallow prey much larger than its head.

With a third of its body raised and its hood spread, a king cobra can still do what?

Move forward is what makes a rearing king cobra so unnerving: it can advance on an intruder while standing tall, so people misjudge the safe distance.

Despite a fearsome reputation, how does a wild king cobra usually react when a person disturbs it?

It slinks off when it can, since the king cobra prefers escape to a fight; the exception is a female guarding her eggs, who may attack unprovoked.

What is the foremost threat to wild king cobras, ahead of poaching for skins, meat and medicine?

Habitat destruction comes first, as logging and new farmland clear the forests king cobras need; the snakes are also taken for leather, bushmeat and folk remedies.

Why are a king cobra's fangs only about half an inch long, shorter than a typical viper's?

They are fixed in place on the upper jaw and cannot fold flat like a viper's, so longer fangs would pierce the floor of the snake's own mouth.

Some genetic studies place the king cobra closer to which fast African snakes than to true cobras?

Mambas came out as the king cobra's closest relatives in some DNA studies, though later work is less sure; either way it sits outside the true cobras in a genus of its own, Ophiophagus.

Older books call the king cobra by which name, borrowed from a nymph of Greek mythology?

Hamadryad is the name used in older literature, and the snake was first classified as Hamadryas hannah until that genus turned out to belong to a butterfly.

A king cobra's flicking tongue carries scent particles to which sensory structure in the roof of its mouth?

Jacobson's organ analyses the particles the forked tongue collects, which is how a king cobra can follow the odour trail of prey it cannot see.

The king cobra is an apex predator that dominates every snake in its range except which large constrictors?

Pythons of large size are the lone exception, and a king cobra occasionally borrows their method, squeezing prey with its muscular body.

Which kitchen spice is blended with herbs in a Thai folk remedy for king cobra bites, despite no clinical proof?

Turmeric mixed with other herbs is the traditional treatment, but it is antivenom, given quickly, that saves a badly bitten person.

Members of Myanmar's Pakokku clan mix cobra venom into what, hoping to gain protection from snakebite?

Tattoo ink laced with venom is applied to the upper body in a weekly ritual, although no scientific evidence shows that it protects anyone.

In a traditional ritual in Myanmar, how does the priestess who handles a king cobra end her performance?

She kisses the snake on the top of its head, the finale of a rite in a country where the king cobra looms large in folklore.

According to a folk myth, a dying king cobra keeps an image of its killer in which part of its body?

Its eyes are said to hold the picture so that the snake's mate can track the killer down for revenge, which is why a dead cobra's head is sometimes crushed or burned.

King cobra females have been shown able to produce young with no male involved, through which process?

Parthenogenesis, sometimes called virgin birth, was confirmed in the king cobra by a genome study published in 2021.

A roadside shrine to a mother king cobra stands beside Rama II Road in which capital city?

Bangkok's shrine was raised after road crews destroyed a large female's eggs and young, and a second shrine nearby honours her mate.

In 2024 scientists split the king cobra into four species, one of them named after which island?

Luzon gives its name to the Luzon king cobra, which lives nowhere else; the other three are the Northern, Sunda and Western Ghats king cobras.

King cobras belong to which snake family, alongside coral snakes, taipans and sea snakes?

Elapids range in size from the 18-centimetre white-lipped snake to the king cobra itself, the giant of the family.

A king cobra observed feeding at night in Singapore was swallowing which kind of reptile?

A monitor lizard, specifically a clouded monitor, was the meal, a reminder that the species sometimes takes lizards as well as its usual prey.

Which Danish naturalist gave the king cobra its species name hannah in 1836, from specimens caught in the Sundarbans?

Theodore Cantor worked from four specimens, three from the Sundarbans and one caught near Kolkata, and never explained whom the name hannah honoured.

Which herpetologist used a 2005 Whitley Award to found a rainforest research station for king cobras at Agumbe?

Romulus Whitaker, founder of the Madras Snake Park, set up the Agumbe station in Karnataka, where rescued king cobras are radio-tracked.

King cobras spend almost a quarter of their time in which surprising spot for so heavy a snake?

Up in trees or bushes is where they pass nearly a fourth of their hours, and they favour forest near streams, where warmth and humidity stay steady.

Which famously crowded financial hub lies inside the king cobra's natural range?

Hong Kong sits inside the king cobra's range, which runs east from the Himalayan foothills and south to the islands of Indonesia.

Young king cobras are which base colour, crossed with yellow or white bars along the body and tail?

Jet black with pale chevrons is the juvenile pattern, and the vivid markings often fade as the snake matures into an olive or brown adult.

A king cobra's large eye has a golden iris and a pupil of which shape?

Round pupils and a golden iris were noted in the first scientific description, along with a head covered by 15 drab, dark-edged shields.