King Cobra: The Original Face-Off Hood!

The Hooded One has been doing it much before the hood in the Hollywood blockbuster, Face-Off.

Not only that! He has also been doing a far better job than the world’s top surgeons are currently trying to do: the King Cobra peels the skin off his head even uncovering new fangs, teeth and tongue!

What makes him king? He is the longest venomous snake in the world with enough venom to kill 20 soldiers or an elephant, with a single bite.

Unlike other cobras, the King Cobra hunts by day. It detects prey by sight and scent, flicking its tongue in and out. As the tongue slips back into its mouth, it passes over the Jacobson organ which analyzes smell.

On spotting its prey, it makes a lightening-fast lunge and bites it, injecting venom through its two hollow half-inch long fangs. The fast-acting toxin affects the victim’s nervous system, paralyzing respiratory muscles, resulting in death.
It then swallows its prey, dislocating its jaw to help swallow large ones.

When startled or threatened, it takes its classic upright position with about one third of its upper body off the ground, hood flared open.
But the King prefers to flee rather than attack, except when cornered or when one accidentally steps on it or its nest.

During the breeding season, it may seem to the uninitiated that two cobras with necks entwined are mating, when in fact they are just two males wrestling over a female. The winner then rubs his chin along his queen’s body calming her and preparing her for mating. The rest of it is too serpentine a tale to go into!

The queen builds a nest by pushing leaves, grass, sticks and soil together to form a pile into which she makes a hollow and lays her eggs, covering them again and then lying over them.

The king guards the eggs along with his queen during the incubation period of two to three months.
The King Cobra sheds its skin four to six times a year during a two-week shedding cycle.
Laughter will be the thing furthest from your mind should you ever encounter this king-in-invisible-clothes.

Copyright © 2006 Noël Gama