🐍 KING COBRA ─ The King All Humans Fear 🐍

We humans boast a little too much about being supreme beings on earth and the bravest too. But are we really? Well, at least until you are put face to face with the king of snakes, the king cobra. Snakes have always haunted humans and are undoubtedly one of the most common phobias of mankind due to their ability to kill a person by their venomous bite and strong An ordinary snake or even a python can cause great damage, let alone the king cobra. The king cobra is an extremely venomous snake that is mostly found in the jungles of southeast Asia. A lot of other species of the cobra are also in existence, but the king cobra is the most differentiated and dangerous of them all pertaining to its size and morphological features. The king cobra has many record titles under its name, but the most common one is being the longest venomous snake in the world as the longest adult king cobra was recorded to be 5.8 meters in length, whereas the average length is just around 4 meters. Also, its two fangs are the most dangerous weapon that it owns, which it uses to pierce its prey's body. One of the strongest aspects of the king cobra is the fact that it is an excellent climber and is quite good at swimming short distances too. It does not really have a fixed color or pattern on its skin and is found in different appearances across different habitats. The king cobra gets its name because of its supreme dominance over other snake species and even over other cobras. It is often believed that the king cobra tends to rule over the other snakes, similar to how a lion rules the jungle. Their extremely fatal venom is something that only the king cobras possess. No snake or other species of cobras is said to have such a dangerous venom. This is probably why they are the undisputed kings of the snake world. This bad boy is not at all loyal and it proves it by preying on its own kind at times when other prey is not readily available. This particular cobra rarely preys on lizards and rodents, which is the exact opposite of what other snakes are known to do. They have to stand apart from the crowd after all. An astonishing fact about the cobras, these are probably the only species of snakes in the entire world that happens to build nests. But they are not entirely different. Even they have traits similar to others in the family. For instance, the way they showcase themselves to intimidate other animals is by raising their head in an upward position, opening the flap on their neck, and hissing. As much as humans are terrified by even the slightest glimpse of the cobra, it has a different feeling towards us and does not like being around humans. It would apparently never try to hurt humans unless they create a disturbance in their territory or pose a threat to their survival. Although, if a human were to disrupt its way or try to provoke the king unnecessarily, it will not hold back and will do exactly what it's good at. The deadly king cobra is one of the most stubborn and violent in nature. Hence, the duration of its bite is much longer than we expect. This is because the king cobra has the ability to inject a large amount of venom into its victim's body, which is almost life-threatening and calls for immediate medical help in the case of humans. That's because if the venom spreads in the body, it will only take around 30 minutes for the person to die because of the venom of the king cobra contains toxins that are scientifically proven to affect a human's central nervous system. It can subsequently lead to excruciating pain, drowsiness, vertigo, blurred vision, and in some extreme cases, paralysis. Plus, it can also bite multiple times in a row. So now you know that the only way to protect yourself from its deadly bite is not to wander anywhere near it. Well, except for the snake charmers who are always at a major risk for being bitten by the king cobra. It's not all monsters though and is factually known as the national reptile of India. And not just that, it holds a great significance in Indian mythologies and folklore along with being highly reputed in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. As far as the physical characteristics of the king cobra are concerned, it usually possesses olive green scaly skin with white or black stripes running parallel from sideways. Plus, a black tongue to add to its devil-like demeanor. The cobra has relatively bigger eyes containing a bright golden colored iris. It has an extremely enormous head and massive jaws which it can open wide enough to swallow prey that is just as large as the snake. The king cobra is distributed widely in South and Southeast Asia and can also be seen in the Terai region of India and Southern Nepal. It is also found in Southern China, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Laos among numerous other countries. In the northern part of India, it is very easily seen in the Garhwal and Kumeyaun regions along with Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The king cobra is also a common sight in the seven states of the northeastern states. Similar to other snakes, even the king cobra collects information from its surroundings through its fork-like tongue. Not just some vague information, but it can also sense if the prey is nearby enough for it to attack. As soon as it starts getting signals of a potential victim, it hits its tongue on the ground to estimate the exact location of the prey. The tongue is kind of like the GPS we use in our daily lives, just far more accurate, as it can sense the prey even if it is 100 meters away. After having talked about the way it gets to distinguish its prey, the king cobra primarily feeds on animals like the banded krait, rat snake, pythons, green whip snake, keelback, banded wolf snake, lithe's reticulated snake, and the Indian cobra. If the food is not easily available, it can even prey on birds and other vertebrates. The cobra mostly preys by biting the victim and in extremely rare cases might wrap itself around prey to constrict its movement. The king cobra is the most active during the day and prefers to tuck itself in by the night. Simply put, it is diurnal in nature. It usually takes shelter in logs or termite mounds. The metabolic rate of these cobras is rather slow and therefore, it can go months without food after a significantly large meal. Scientifically speaking, the behavior of the king cobra contradicts its overall persona. That's because it is surprisingly calm and does not get as aggressive as we would think. However, it does seem to respond in a brutal way when its eggs are in danger. The cobra does not let anybody near its incubated eggs and will attack strongly if it senses any sort of threat. The hiss of the king cobra is a disturbing and low-pitched voice that appears to be a loud growl. However, the frequency range of its growl is very similar to that of a human's. A female cobra usually gives birth to an offspring after a period of 50 to 59 days and the male cobra is solely responsible for building a comfortable nest for the incubation of the eggs. The nests, which consist of numerous layers, are usually built by the base of the trees. These nests can be 55 cm high and 140 cm wide. The incubation period mostly lasts after a period of 66 to 105 days. Females are required to stay in the nests until the babies are born whereas the male goes out in search of food. The hatchlings can be as long as 37 cm to 58 cm and can weigh roughly around 9 to 38 grams. What's intriguing about the hatchlings is the fact that their venom can be just as poisonous as the adults and sometimes even more. During the initial days after being born, the hatchlings are characterized by bright colors which fade away with time. Contrary to the behavior of the adult king cobra, the hatchlings can be slightly aggressive if disturbed. They are also quite alert of their surroundings as it can be a little intimidating which might make them nervous at times. The average king cobra can live up to 20 years of age and the longest living king cobra ever in captivity was found to be 22 years old. The entire species of the cobras has been under great threat of extinction. If latest statistics and studies are to be believed, there are only 270 to 280 species of the cobra left on the planet in total. It will not take much longer for the limited number to decline even more. One of the major reasons behind this huge decline is deforestation that has rendered the cobras homeless and stripped off their natural habitat. Humans have also posed a threat to their survival by repeated poaching and hunting. This happens because the skins of the king cobras are highly valuable and are used for skin care and medical purposes. Also, mongooses are one of the greatest predators of the king cobra and have also played a part in their decreasing population over the years. What is even more upsetting is the fact that even after repeated warnings from the IUCN, the population of the king cobra has still not seen any positive changes so far. Nevertheless, strict actions have been announced by governments of various nations against people who indulge in illegal practices like poaching. If such necessary steps are taken throughout the world, the king cobra can surely be protected from going extinct. We hope you're as much terrified as amazed with the king cobra. Let us know in the comments below which beautiful beast you'd like to watch next time. Thanks for watching. See you on the next one.