Venomous Creatures #2: King Cobra

Introduction

Welcome to another edition of Venomous Creatures. Today we are going to be looking at King Cobra, the longest venomous snake in the world. I can still remember the incidence of a King Cobra in my community. Someone spotted a King Cobra and alerted the whole community. For days, even weeks no one was seen walking when it was pass 7pm (hahaha), the fear of that snake was like the fear of a matured male lion. The funny or annoying thing about the incidence was that, the King Cobra was not even seen, so no one was actually sure if it was ever there, but the important thing was that, during that period I learned a lot about King Cobra.

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In this article, we will discussing about, all the necessary details you need to know about King Cobra, such as their reproduction process, their life cycle, the way they feed and many more. So just relax and get thrilled with this article I made just for you (smiles).

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^{[Source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: Marathekedar93. CC-BY-SA-4.0 Licensed]}

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King Cobra - Ophiophagus Hannah

The King Cobra is the longest venomous snake in the world. They are not really true cobras because they are not classified under the Naja genus, they are actually sole members of the Elapidae family. It's generic name is Ophiophagus which combines two latin words, Ophio means Snake and Phagus means Eater, when combined together, the King Cobra's generic name which is Ophiophagus means Snake Eater. They are Cannibalistic in nature i.e feeding almost exclusively on snakes. They are mostly found in the Southeast Asia, Eastern Philippines and Western Indonesia.

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Scientific Classification - Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Reptilla, Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Elaidae, Genus: Ophiophagus (Gunther, 1864), Species: O. hannah, Binomial name: Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor, 1836). Source

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Although, the King Cobra is not the longest snake in the world(Reticulated Python) but it's sure the longest venomous snake in the world, with it's average length about 12 -16 feet, with a width of about 1 foot and weighing about 6 - 10 kilograms. If a King Cobra is stretched, it could look as tall as 2, 6 feet tall human beings, just imagine that for some seconds. it's massive; right? Unlike most snakes species, the male King Cobra are usually longer and weighs more than the female King Cobra.

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King Cobra's color is dependent on the environment that they live in, which allow them to camouflage easily. They make use of their camouflage color to easily attack their preys as well as making it difficult for their predators to find them. Adult King Cobras are usually yellow, green, brown or black in color while their throats are light yellow or cream-colored. Young King Cobras are usually black in color with yellow or white bars crossing their body. The appearance of a King Cobra is usually very intense as well as fierce. There are lots more to know about this very feared creature, just relax and continue reading. Let's move to the Reproduction process.

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Reproduction

As you can remember, King Cobras are cannibalistic in nature, also, the male King Cobra is bigger than the female King Cobra, the question should then be, how can these two creatures mate, when they easily eat themselves? There is always a balance in nature, that's why we are still living and you are reading this article. King Cobras have a breeding season and this breeding season falls between January to April, when the weather begins to warm up. It happens to be that, the male King Cobra always produces a unique hormones that makes him lose his appetite during this period and also during this same period, the female also produces her own unique hormones or pheromones that sends out a signal to the male King Cobras, that she is ready for mating, nature is powerful; right?

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As soon as the male King Cobra picks up the signal/smell, he begins to track down his future baby mama(hahaha). Once the male has finally found the female, they begin their mating ritual. The male would flicks his tongue over the female and then wait for her acceptance. The female would take some while before agreeing to mate with him. As soon as she agrees, the male would wrap his tail around the female and then raise his head on her back. He would then insert his two sex organs, called hemipenes into the female's oviduct which is called Cloaca for mating to begin. They would stay at that position, clinging to each other for some few minutes or hours or even days. After mating, the male would go back to his home, and then the female would begin the process of building a nest for her cobra hatchlings. The female would wait about 55 days before laying about 20 - 40 eggs. The female would then lay over the eggs for the entire incubation period, to safeguard her hatchlings from predators such as monitor lizards, mongoose and more, for about 2 - 3 months. Once the female King Cobra begins to notice that her cobra are ready to come out, she leaves the nest, in order to avoid the temptation of eating her own babies. And that's how the King Cobra reproduction process takes place.

^{King Cobras performing their mating ritual. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: P Das Arayil. CC-BY-SA-2.0 licensed}

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Feeding

As their generic name ophiophagus which means, snake-eater implies, they are cannibalistic in nature. They almost exclusively feed on other snakes, be it non-venomous or venomous snakes and even their own cobra species. King Cobras most common meal is the rat snake. On some occasions, they feed on small animals such as birds, lizards and rodents. Some King Cobras restrict their diet to a particular specie of snake and would refuse to eat any other species of snake. King Cobras are diurnal in nature i.e they are more activate during the day, hunting for their preys.

They normally detect their prey by flicking out their tongues in the air which helps them to pick up some chemical signals, knowing where their preys are. They also possess a very sharp vision and an incredible ability to detect ground vibrations which is caused by movements of the creatures around. King Cobras make use of the ambush strategy, they patiently wait for their prey to get closer and then they attack. Unlike like most snakes, that have to capture their prey and then inject their venom, the King Cobra can do this with a quick strike. Once it has struck it's prey, within few minutes, they are paralyzed and then dead. Like other snakes, they swallow their preys. After a large meal, they could go months without feeding because of their low metabolic rate. Let's move on to their Life Cycle.

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Life Cycle

Let's begin their life cycle from the moment the female King Cobra leaves their hatchlings. When the female King Cobra has left due to the temptation of eating their own babies, the cobra babies uses their tooth to crack their eggs and come out into the world. As little as they are(one and half to two feet long), they possess the same powerful venom of an adult King Cobra, but unlike the adult King Cobra, they can not control the amount of venom they give out. They are usually more dangerous than the adults, because they are born alert and very nervous, which makes them attack anything that comes their way. About a week or two after they have hatched, they begin hunting for food but before then, they live on the digestion of the egg yolk sac inside their stomach. It takes about 4 years for a young King Cobra to reach sexual maturity and that's how the life cycle goes on and on. King Cobra average life span is about 20 years.

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Venom

King Cobra is one of the deadliest creatures and the longest venomous snake in the world. It's venom can kill a matured elephant in just few hours. The venom of a King Cobra comprises of neurotoxins, which is known as haditoxins with several other compounds. Once this toxins get injected into the body, it shuts down the central nervous system, and then causes blurred vision, which will then lead to paralysis and then death. The King Cobra's venom can kill a matured human adult within 30 minutes. The venom which contains neurotoxins spread rapidly to the bloodstream, causing respiratory failure, and then paralysis and finally death. There are two ways you can counteract the effects of a King Cobra's venom. First, as soon as a King Cobra bites it's victim, inject the appropriate antivenom immediately. Second, if there is no antivenom available, the use of artificial respirator can help save the victim as it provides an avenue for the victim to continue breathing until the paralysis wears off.

Even though a King Cobra's venom is one of the deadliest venom in the world, it also has a positive side. Recent studies has shown that the King Cobra's venom has some potentials of producing one of the most powerful painkiller known to mankind.

^{Source: Wikipedia. Public Domain Licensed}

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Threats

The main threats to the King Cobra is Man. Due to the increase in human population, production of wooden materials and modernization which has lead to deforestation, and this has become a major threat to existence of this creature. In the past, most people, in particular, the Indians viewed King Cobra in a religious sense, but that's not same now, although there are still people that are still with that belief, but they are very few compared to the past, this has also increase the threats to this creature. More so, there is increase in agricultural activities in the world today, which has resulted, to a lot of killings of this creature by humans for their own safety. This creature has also been seen as very useful in making traditional medicines, and this would lead to their capture and death. And lastly, because of the threat they pose to humans, they are decreasing on a yearly basis.

Some conservation efforts have been put in place to prevent the extinction of this creature. For instance, in India, there is an Act protecting them, which is Schedule II of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act and it states that

Anyone killing the snake could be imprisoned for up to six years. Source

The worshipers of this creature are also helping to see that this creature continues to exist.

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Amazing facts

• The King Cobra is the longest venomous snake in the world.
• They are cannibalistic in nature.
• They have the longest forked tongue of all snake species.
• The longest King Cobra was measured 19.2 ft (5.85m).
• They are diurnal in nature.
• They are the only snake that makes nest for their eggs.
• The male King Cobras are longer and weigh more the female.
• Their most common meal is rat snake.
• King Cobra venom per bite can kill 10 adult humans.
• They can live up to 30 years of age.

References

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All images used in this article are free sources licensed under the Creative Commons and are liable for commercial use.

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