King Cobra: Why do they wage “war” against other snakes? (10 photos)

The King Cobra is your true friend among enemies and your sworn enemy among friends. On the one hand, the bite of this snake is fatal, but on the other hand, cobras eat poisonous snakes, reducing our chances of being bitten. Execution cannot be pardoned? Let's decide where to put the comma.





Who are the judges?

The king cobra, or hamadryad, is the most recognizable species of venomous snake from the adder family. Even a child knows her calling cards: her hood and her characteristic fighting stance. Well, we’ll tell you about everything else today.

The domains of crowned reptiles extend throughout South and Southeast Asia. There are tons of dangerous snakes there: tropical rainforests, constantly above-zero temperatures and a lot of sun - an ideal serpentarium. That's why cobras switched to a diet of scaly spaghetti. At some point, it became easier to eat other snakes than the usual frogs and warm-blooded animals.



Damn, what a long pasta!

Two things help the princes devour their own kind: size and poison. The king cobra is the largest venomous snake on the planet. Adults grow up to 5.8 meters! And all this just so that the intestines can accommodate long prey in the form of its relative.





That's what I understand, kite!

But the main weapon of a cobra is not its size, but its poison. It affects the nervous system and turns off organs in a matter of minutes. Not only is the poison poisonous in itself, but the cobra pours it in buckets by snake standards. At one time she injects from 400 to 1000 mg of pure toxin! For example: in the vipers we are used to, this figure ranges from 10 to 30 mg. It is not surprising that one bite of a king cobra can kill a man in 30 minutes and an elephant in just 120 minutes.

Why such a powerful toxin? And this also has to do with our guest’s diet. After all, cold-blooded people have a slow metabolism, which means they need a higher concentration and dose for the poison to be effective.



Would you like me to show you a trick with the disappearance of a boa constrictor?

The venom of cobras also kills other snakes quickly. But in order to bite a snake, you still need to find it. Other reptiles rely on the warmth of their prey. But it is impossible to detect a cold-blooded victim with a thermal imager! Therefore, cobras rely on their senses of smell, touch and vision. This, by the way, is another reason why the crowned reptile takes the famous stance: the hunter can spot prey from a distance of up to 100 meters.



Even higher, two-legged slave!

Sometimes it happens that cobras catch the eye of their own relatives. They also eat them without a twinge of conscience! Yes, royalty has extremely specific tastes. Small cobras are swallowed immediately by adults. And princes equal to each other will challenge their opponent to battle. Well, to find out who will eat who.



Nothing unusual, just a cobra strangling a boa constrictor.

The main difficulty in breeding king cobras lies in the traditions of cannibalism. Santa Barbara in snake style, depending on the region, begins from January to April. First, the males track down the female ready for mating and argue which of them is more worthy of possessing the queen. They try not to bite or injure each other, because the most difficult thing is ahead.



This is not what you think! We're actually fighting!

When the contender for the tail and heart is found, the moment of truth comes. The male slowly approaches the lady and examines the situation. Everyone is at risk: if suddenly the female, before this meeting, had already managed to party with someone else and become pregnant, the gentleman would easily kill and eat her. If the male himself makes an awkward move or hisses at her “shower without me?”, the snake woman will attack and finish him off.



He said that he saw no point in giving flowers. After all, they will wither anyway!

As you can imagine, dating is even more difficult for Cobras than for the current generation of TikTokers and Zoomers. But if all the stars align, the snakes will form a strong married couple, according to some sources, for life. Together they will survive a two-month pregnancy and almost 4 months of egg incubation in the nest.



The snakes built this nest without arms or legs. Rotting foliage creates heat and promotes faster incubation.

No, you heard right. King cobras are the only snakes that build nests. Doing this without limbs is, of course, difficult. To bring materials to the laying site, one part of the snake’s body is folded into a loop, and the other is crawled. The time while the royal couple is guarding the eggs is the deadliest, and the reptile's venom becomes more toxic than usual. Yazhmama and yazhba are so reckless that they even attack elephants! What kind of bipedal primate is there!



But this cobra overestimated its strength, and a large python took it in a chokehold.

Parents leave the clutch forever shortly before the snakes hatch. The reason is simple: after many months of protection, parents become so tired that they may not be able to restrain themselves and eat their own children. So, princes and princesses will begin their dangerous path to their own throne. Poison will help them with this - it is as powerful in children as in adults.