The king cobra, being the largest among poisonous snakes, is not the most poisonous among them. Nevertheless, in the minds of most people, she managed to become practically the standard of snake danger.

The extent to which this danger is justified, as well as other features of this interesting reptile, will be discussed in the article.

Appearance and dimensions

With an average body length of about four meters, this snake can sometimes exceed these dimensions by one and a half meters. Being able to lift its body into the air by a third of its length, the cobra can be taller than the average person.

Did you know? Despite their name, king cobras are actually not cobras, representing an independent genus of snakes.

The color of the king cobra, also referred to less poetically, but more accurately - the hamadryad, is not as striking as its size. Depending on the habitat, on the back it can be lighter or darker, brown, greenish-brown, yellow, green and black, which alternate with dark or, conversely, light rings encircling the body. Sometimes the cobra is decorated with so-called chevrons, which are white and yellow patterns on the back. The belly is mostly painted in a light yellow hue.

The cobra's distinguishing feature, of course, is its famous hood, which in its normal state consists of leather folds hanging on either side of its neck. Excited in case of danger, the snake straightens the ribs in these folds, the folds expand and form the very well-known appearance cobra.

In front of the snake's head are small, most often black eyes, and a clearly defined small flat surface is clearly visible at the top of the head.

The serpents are usually painted in a radical black color interspersed with narrow yellow stripes. Male king cobras are longer and thicker than females. The mouth of these snakes tends to stretch greatly, which allows them to swallow large prey.

Distribution area, habitats

Hamadryad lives in Southeast and South Asia, inhabiting rainforests in Pakistan, South China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and the Greater Sunda Islands.

Lifestyle and diet

Able to swim and climb trees perfectly, cobras nevertheless prefer to live in secluded caves and holes in the jungle near mangrove swamps and streams.

Currently, these snakes are increasingly settling near human habitation, as clearing rainforest and the expansion of cultivated land in their place attracts rodents, which are the main food for many snakes, which, in turn, serve as food for king cobras.
Most often, rat snakes are included in their diet. In addition, the Hamadryad menu may consist of:

  • snakes;
  • pythons;
  • boyg;
  • keffiy;
  • kraits;
  • other cobras;
  • lizards;
King cobras successfully hunt thanks to their excellent eyesight, thanks to which they can see at a distance of 330 meters, as well as an excellent sense of smell and fine hearing.

Did you know? Cobra is able to do without any food more three months, which helps her a lot when hatching offspring.

If King Cobra will not fall into the claws or teeth of their natural enemies, she is able to live up to 30 years, all this time growing in length.

What is dangerous poison for humans

In the mouth of this snake there are two one and a half centimeter fangs with channels inside, through which the poison enters the body of the victim. This poison is not special toxic substances, however, in this case, the Hamadryad takes not by quality, but by quantity. Possessing the ability to inject up to 7 ml of poison into the victim's body at once, the Hamadryad can even kill an elephant with this amount.
Possessing neurotoxic properties, the venom of the king cobra causes respiratory paralysis, heart failure and fatal coma within a quarter of an hour in a bitten person. The antidote antivenin can save the victim if it is introduced into the human body in a timely manner.

Important! Although the king cobra is able to kill a person, this happens very rarely. Suffice it to say that among the 50,000 Indians who die every year from snake bites, the least people suffer from king cobras.

As statistics show, only a tenth of the bites of the Hamadryad turn out to be fatal for people. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that the snake does not consider a person as its prey and, saving precious poison for a real hunt, most often simply frightens a person by biting him empty without injecting the toxin.

reproduction

Among their reptile relatives, only king cobras build nests for laying eggs and incubating offspring. These nests are built from the decaying rainforest litter, branches and leaves on the hills and are more than a meter in diameter. Since the snake is not able to warm the eggs with the heat of its body, the desired temperature in the range of + 26–28 ° C is created by adding decaying and heat-releasing foliage to the nest.
And before the eggs are laid, the mating season begins in January. It consists in ritual battles between males for a female, in which no one suffers, and subsequent mating, after which a month later the female lays 20 to 40 eggs. After an incubation period of three months, they hatch into small serpents.

Before that important event a hungry female goes in search of food so as not to inadvertently eat her own children. Small snakes eat up the yolk remaining in the eggs for another day, and then go on an independent life. And there they face a lot of dangers, as a result of which only a few cubs reach adulthood.

Moult

Every year, every 2-3 months, an adult snake has to molt. Juveniles do this monthly. The molt takes about 10 days, after which, being vulnerable, the hamadryad seeks a warmer shelter, which sometimes also acts as human housing.
Together with the skin, the cobra after molting also changes its teeth, the tips of the tongue and even the eyes. Because of this, in the first 10 days after molting, the snake sees very poorly, but then vision is restored and becomes as sharp as before.

Enemies in the wild

The Hamadryad, despite its formidable poisonous weapons and impressive size, also has enemies, some of them deadly. It is most often forbidden for a person in those parts where these snakes live to kill them, although there are still many poachers, but this prohibition does not apply to:

  • wild boars;
  • large reptiles;
  • meerkats;
  • serpent eagles;
  • mongooses.

Most king cobras die in the claws, beaks and mouths of their natural enemies at a young age.
But here is a small animal, the mongoose can cope with the largest specimens of these snakes, while not having any immunity from their poison. The mongoose defeats the snake with agility and fearlessness, jumping on it and instantly jumping to the side until he manages to bite through the back of her head, after which the cobra dies.

Important!A person who stands quietly and does not take any action will never be attacked by this snake. It has increased aggressiveness only when protecting a nest with laying eggs.

The king cobra, being the largest among poisonous snakes, is not the most dangerous among them. Being able to control the flow of poison into the body of the enemy, this snake shows common sense, as if explaining the wisdom that people attribute to snakes in their folklore.

Snakes have inhabited the Earth for many millions of years. Scientists have about 3,000 snakes on the planet. Only a small part of reptiles does not have poison and does not pose a danger to human life (see). Many types of snakes are found everywhere, others live only in warm climate, and, perhaps, only in Antarctica there are no snakes. One of the most poisonous snakes are cobras, which, with the help of their poison, can kill a person and even a large animal. Why is a cobra bite so dangerous?

You can meet these majestic snakes only in warm countries with humid climate, cobras do not like the cold and do not live where snow falls. A person may encounter a snake while traveling through warm countries and continents. Often such a meeting takes place without dangerous consequences a cobra bite, since a snake never attacks a person first. The snake will hiss for quite a long time and show its danger with all appearance, but rushes at the person in last resort. Basically, the aggressiveness of cobras increases during the mating season and while waiting for offspring, when the snake guards its nest with eggs laid in it.

What are the types of cobras

Cobras belong to the Aspid family. There are 16 varieties of cobras on Earth, and all of them are considered very poisonous and deadly to humans. Snakes breed more in winter, in January or February. fertilized female in without fail builds a nest from dry foliage, where it then lays from 8 to 40 eggs. Cobras carefully guard their future offspring, very often you can see a male cobra lying on a nest. Usually, when after 80 days small kites appear from the eggs, the male drives the female away from the offspring, otherwise she can eat her babies.

Small serpents already have a poisonous substance in their teeth and can also be dangerous to humans. Only adults pose a mortal threat to human life, having met a small cobra on their way, a person can get off with only minor intoxication, provided that medical assistance is provided in time.

Find out in which cases it is dangerous. Providing emergency care.

Do you know what to do after: first aid and prognosis for the patient.

The most venomous of all cobra species are the following snakes:

Cobra bite symptoms

Cobra venom contains a special toxin that, when penetrated into the skin of the victim, blocks the pain syndrome, so many people do not feel the bite of a cobra at all. At the site of the snake's defeat, two small red dots can be observed. Edema and redness of the skin, as a rule, are absent. The poisonous substance of the snake has neurotoxic (see) properties and causes the following symptoms from the central nervous system:

  • headache;
  • fainting and clouding of consciousness;
  • involuntary urination;
  • paralysis and paresis;
  • labored breathing;
  • slight excitement, followed by apathy and lethargy;
  • heart failure;
  • muscle cramps (see);
  • lowering blood pressure.

A cobra bite can be fatal to a person if the victim is not treated in time. medical care. In a child, snake venom is almost always fatal.

Read ? How to prevent a spider attack.

Find out what the consequences for a person can be. Providing first aid for a bite.

Do you know what it is for a person? What to do if bitten by a cross spider.

First aid for a snake attack

Cobras are very calm and peaceful reptiles. In order for a cobra to bite, you need to try hard. The snake first warns its enemy about a possible attack for a long time, hissing, spreading its hood and swinging vertically in different directions. If the cobra is not left alone, it will be forced to attack its enemy. After receiving a cobra bite, the victim should take first aid measures or ask someone to provide it.

The first thing to do is to position the victim of the bite in a dark place. The head of the bitten person should be lowered slightly below the level of the body. The wound from the teeth of the snake is washed big amount cool water, if possible, use a soapy solution. In no case should you cauterize, much less incise the wound. Poison cannot be extracted in this way, only infection is possible.

If there is a special syringe or pear for sucking out the poison, then it is necessary to suck out the poisonous substance from the wound during the first 5 minutes after the cobra bite. You can try to suck out the poison with your mouth, but only if there are no wounds in your mouth and your teeth are absolutely healthy. The poison being sucked out is periodically spit out, and at the end of the procedure, the mouth must be rinsed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

Then the wound of the victim is treated with any antiseptic and applied cold compress. Cold contributes to the slow absorption of poison into the human body. A tourniquet or pressure bandage can be applied to the bitten area. The injured person must be soldered with a large amount of warm liquid, you can also give him an antihistamine to drink.

Important! A person bitten by a cobra must be delivered to a medical facility, where he will be injected with a special serum from the bite of these snakes.

It is one of the most poisonous and extremely dangerous reptiles on the ground. Its venom is highly toxic. There are sixteen types of cobras, and all of them are extremely dangerous.

Habitat

Cobras mainly inhabit old light- Africa (almost the entire continent), South and Central Asia(Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka). As already mentioned, this Cobra is very thermophilic - she will not live where snow falls and lies in winter. The only exception, perhaps, is She lives in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. The drier the places, the more preferable they are for these reptiles. Most often they choose bushes, jungles, deserts and semi-deserts. Sometimes they can be seen on the banks of rivers, but most often they avoid wet places. Cobra is also found in mountainous areas, but not higher than 2400 meters above sea level.

reproduction

These snakes breed once a year. Most often this happens in January-February or in the spring. The fertility of these reptiles largely depends on their species. One female can lay eight to seventy eggs.

The collared cobra is the only one of all species that gives birth to live cubs. She is able to give birth to up to sixty babies. During this period, the king and Indian cobras are very aggressive. They protect their offspring by driving away animals and people from the nest. This behavior is not typical for them and appears only during the period of breeding.

Who is afraid of the cobra

Despite the fact that this snake is extremely dangerous, it also has serious enemies. Her young can be eaten by larger reptiles. Adults can be destroyed by meerkats and mongooses. These animals are not immune to the poison of cobras, however, they are able to deftly distract the attention of the snake with their false attacks. They seize the right moment and inflict a fatal bite on the back of her head. A cobra, having met a meerkat or a mongoose on its way, has practically no chance of salvation.

Indian cobra

This species is most commonly found in Africa and South Asia. Quite often it is called This name she received because of the characteristic pattern on the back of the hood. It consists of two neat rings with a bow. When this venomous cobra defends itself, it raises the front of its body almost vertically, and a hood appears behind its head. The length of the snake is 1 meter eighty centimeters. It feeds mainly on amphibians - rodents and small lizards, and will not refuse bird eggs. It is a very prolific venomous snake. Cobra Naja naja often lays up to 45 eggs! Interestingly, the male also monitors the safety of the masonry.

spitting cobra

This is a special subspecies Indian cobra. She shoots poison at an enemy located at a distance of up to two meters, and is able to hit a target with a diameter of up to two centimeters. And, I must say, the snake is highly accurate. To kill the victim, getting poison on the body is not enough. The poison won't get through skin, but it is very dangerous when it comes into contact with the mucous membrane. Therefore, the main target of these snakes is the eyes. At exact hit the victim may lose their sight completely. To avoid this, immediately rinse your eyes with plenty of water.

Egyptian cobra

Distributed in and in Africa. It is also a poisonous snake. Cobra Naja haje grows up to two meters in length. Her hood is much smaller than that of her Indian cousin. Among the ancient Egyptians, she symbolized power, and her venomous bite used as a means of killing in public executions.

King cobra snake (hamadryad)

Many consider it to be the largest venomous snake in the world. The length of adults is more than three meters, but cases have been recorded and more impressive - 5.5 meters! This is an erroneous opinion. There is a reptile large sizes than Against the anaconda, it may seem like just a baby - after all, some individuals of this species reach a length of ten meters!

Hamadryad is common in India, south of the Himalayas, in South China, the Philippines, up to Bali, in Indochina. Most of the time, the reptile is on the ground, but at the same time it can perfectly crawl through trees and swim. According to experts, this amazing creature- King Cobra. How can a snake be so massive? Many are surprised by this. Indeed, its dimensions are simply awesome, although it does not look too heavy and massive, like, for example, a python.

cobra color

It is highly variable due to its extensive habitat. Most often - yellowish-green with black rings. On the front of the body, they are narrower and not very clear, towards the tail they become wider and brighter. The color of young individuals is more saturated.

reproduction

This is one of the few species of snakes whose males, colliding in the same territory, arrange ritual fights, but do not bite each other. Naturally, the winner remains with the female. Mating is preceded by a period of courtship, after which it becomes clear to the male that his “chosen one” is not dangerous for him. About a month later, the female lays eggs. Before this event occurs, a king cobra builds a nest. How can a snake that has no limbs, a beak, cope with this task? It turns out that she rakes dry leaves and branches into a rounded pile with the front part of her body.

The number of eggs is different - from twenty to forty. As a rule, the female guards the masonry, having previously covered it with leaves and placed on its top. But there are cases when the male also takes part in the protection. The incubation period lasts approximately one hundred days. Shortly before the birth of offspring, the female leaves the nest to get food for herself. After birth, the cubs stay near the nest for about a day. From the moment of their appearance, they are completely independent, from birth they have poison, but in very small quantities, which allows them to hunt small rodents, and sometimes even insects.

Lethal weapon

How this one strikes its prey dangerous snake? The royal cobra doses its very strong poison. Its volume depends on the size and weight of the victim. Usually its amount is several times higher than the lethal dose. Interestingly, eating poisoned prey, the snake itself does not suffer at all.

Usually, in order to scare away a person, a cobra bites, but does not release poison, since it is necessary for it to hunt. But by no means can you hope for it! Cobra venom can kill an elephant in a few hours. It paralyzes the muscular system, and the victim dies of suffocation. If poison enters the body, a person dies after 15 minutes.

This snake is of great interest to scientists. Cobra, whose venom is undoubtedly very toxic, can be beneficial to humans. How? In the course of research, it turned out that its poison in small doses can be used to make valuable medicines that have a positive effect on the cardiovascular and nervous system, normalize arterial pressure. Scientists around the world have been studying this poison for more than fifty years, and despite such long term research, discover in it more and more new compounds that are useful for modern medicine.

Many people believe that cobras are very aggressive. This is wrong. They are very calm, you can even call their behavior phlegmatic. If you study well the habits of asps, then they can be controlled, which is often demonstrated by skillful "charmers" of snakes. The king cobra is a dangerous creature, but you should be aware that when it meets a person, it does not attack, but defends itself.

The Latin name of the king cobra - Ophiophagus hannah - is translated as "eating snakes", but it does not apply to true cobras - representatives of the Naja genus, therefore this snake was isolated as an independent species.

The size and appearance of the king cobra really inspire respect and fear. Still, because the average length of her body is 3-4 meters, but there are individuals with a length of 5-5.5 meters!

It is not difficult to recognize this snake. A distinctive feature of the king cobra is a narrow hood at the back of the head and neck, decorated with 6 large dark shields in the form of a semicircle. The main color of the snake is brown or greenish brown. It alternates with dark rings encircling the entire body.

The queen of all snakes has an extensive range that stretches from India to the Philippines ( South India, Pakistan, South China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Greater Sunda Islands and the Philippines).

For no particular reason, the "queen" does not like to be seen. She prefers to stick to dark caves or holes, of which there are a great many in the jungle.

They are also excellent tree climbers and good swimmers, but still prefer to spend most of their time on the ground. During the capture of prey or the pursuit of the enemy, the snake can move quickly. Therefore, the chances of escaping from the snake by flight are not so great. You will learn about the reasons for such aggressiveness a little below. IN Lately there is a tendency for king cobras to move closer to human habitation, and there is an explanation for this.

Firstly, such neighborhood often occurs during the rainy season and, secondly, the extensive spread of agricultural production in Asian countries leads to deforestation, which is natural environment the habitat of these snakes. In addition to this, cobras are often seen in crop areas where many rodents live, and where there are rodents, there are also small snakes - the main food of the king cobra.

Her favorite dish is rat snakes. But at any other opportunity, she is not averse to hunting other species, including poisonous ones. In cases of their deficiency, the "queen" can switch to large lizards but it doesn't happen that often.

A powerful venom that has a neurotoxic effect helps the snake to quickly cope with its prey. It causes paralysis of the respiratory muscles, which leads to respiratory arrest and, as a result, to death. The amount of poison injected into the victim when bitten is about 6-7 ml. Such a dose can be fatal even for an elephant, what can we say about a person.

Despite the highly toxic venom and aggressiveness, human deaths from king cobra bites are rare. This is due to the fact that the snake will not waste its "weapon" in vain. First of all, it is necessary for hunting, and in order to scare a person, K. cobra often inflicts “blank bites”. They occur without injection of poison or very little of it to lead to lethal outcome. If a person received a full bite, then he has no more than half an hour to live. Only the timely administration of an antidote, antivenin, can save him.

Interestingly, the king cobras themselves have developed immunity to their poison, therefore, during the “fights” for the female during the mating season, not one of the gentlemen dies from the bites of an opponent.

January - start mating season when the male goes in search of the female. If there are several applicants, then ritual battles take place. The winner gets the main prize - a female. Then there is a short acquaintance, during which the male is convinced that the female is not dangerous for him, and the final stage begins. mating games- mating.

The king cobra is one of the few snakes that builds a nest for their eggs. It represents big pile rotting foliage, located on a small hill (so that it does not flood heavily during tropical downpours). There, the female lays from 20 to 40 eggs, and then constantly maintains a certain temperature in it (from 25 to 29 ° C).

King cobra or hamadryad (lat. Ophiophagus hannah) (English King Cobra)

After laying eggs, the female becomes very aggressive. She guards them all day long and is ready to rush at anyone who passes by her "treasury". Whether it's a small harmless animal or an elephant. As a result, she is often credited aggressive behavior and attack without apparent reason, although all its aggressiveness is most often associated with the close location of the nest. In addition, during this period, the toxicity of her poison increases, which leads to even more deaths from her bites.

The incubation period lasts about 3 months, after which small, but already highly poisonous cubs hatch into the world. Before that, the female goes in search of food, so as not to eat her babies from hunger. As a result, only 2-4 out of 20-40 kites reach adulthood.

In India, K. cobra is considered a sacred animal, and its killing is punishable not only by religion, but also by laws. Since 1972, a law has been in force prohibiting the killing of cobras unless absolutely necessary. Punishment - imprisonment for up to 3 years.

Images of K. cobra can often be seen in temples. Hindus believe that she understands mantras - sacred spells. According to their belief, this snake has purity and holiness and brings wealth to the house.

Once a year, a holiday dedicated to the king cobra - Nag-panchami - is celebrated. On this day, Hindus bring snakes from the forest and release them in temples or right on the streets. Daredevils put them on their hands, neck, wrap around their heads. And all these tricks with animals go unpunished. According to Indian beliefs, snakes do not bite anyone on this day. After the holiday is over, all the cobras are taken back to the forest.

King cobras live for about 30 years and are constantly growing throughout this period.

Cobra belongs to the class of reptiles.

The body of an ordinary cobra reaches one and a half meters. It is covered with scales of gray solid color. But there is the largest of this class - the king cobra. Its length reaches five meters. Cobras live in forest-steppe and semi-desert landscapes. Cobras are diurnal snakes. They hunt only during the day. They feed on lizards, birds, frogs, small snakes and rodents. In case of danger, cobras can hide in rodent burrows. They hibernate in these burrows.

IN hot weather to cool off, the cobra crawls onto the branches of trees and shrubs or into burrows. Cobra is a venomous snake. Its bite can be fatal. Cobra venom acts primarily on all nerve endings, paralyzing the respiratory system, and this, in turn, can lead to death. If a person who has been bitten by a cobra does not take action, then in just a few hours he will die. The cobra is considered treacherous and aggressive. But, before attacking the victim, the snake takes on a frightening appearance: it inflates the ribs in the head area, forming a kind of hood (this is hallmark) and hisses loudly. First, the cobra, as it were, warns its enemy - for this it makes a lunge with its head, thus trying to scare it away. Then he bites.

Snake venom is used in medical practice. He has next useful properties, therefore, medicinal painkillers are prepared from it. Many cobras, such as the Central Asian cobra, are listed in the Red Book.

A selection of photos of a cobra