What kind of snake is the king cobra?

Although the king cobra is called "king cobra", it is different from the real cobra. It is not a member of the genus cobra, but it belongs to the independent king cobra genus. Compared with other cobras, it is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world because of its more ferocious nature, extremely agile response, flexible head and neck rotation and large detoxification. It is often found in southwest and south China, usually inhabiting grasslands, open slopes and forests. The main food is similar ── other snakes, so in the king cobra territory, it is rare to see other kinds of snakes, extremely poisonous.

The king cobra is a large snake with a maximum total length of 3806 mm in China, 5580 mm outside China, 1 preorbital scale and 3 retroorbital scales. the dorsal scales are smooth, metallic luster, oblique arrangement, complete anal scales and subcaudal scales in one or two rows. With anterior groove teeth, followed by 3 small teeth. Life is dark brown on the back of the body, with a ∧-shaped yellow-and-white stripe on the back of the neck, no eyeglass spots, and narrow white stripes with black edges on the back of the torso and tail. The lower jaw is yellowish, the ventral surface of the body is grayish brown, with black linear markings. The stripes of young snakes are different from those of adults, mainly yellowish-white stripes on the back and eyes, black body, and more than 35 light yellow or white stripes. The weight is generally 6kg, and the life span is about 20 years.

The king cobra likes to live alone, coming out to hunt during the day and resting in rock crevices or tree holes at night. Like other cobras, it will lift the first 1/3 of its body when in danger, and then it will open its mouth, reveal its fangs, stare at its opponent and pay attention to its surroundings. Once the king cobra thinks it is in danger, it will not hesitate to attack. It mainly preys on snakes and lizards, as well as birds, eggs and rats.

The king cobra usually eats other snakes and has antivenomous serum in the body, so when other venomous snakes bite the king cobra, the king cobra is usually safe and sound. Food includes pythons of the right size, other kinds of venomous and non-venomous snakes, such as cobras, gold ring snakes, silver ring snakes, rat snakes, and so on, and even other similar species will eat when there is not enough food, so the king cobra is also called "snake evil star".

The king cobra is a highly intelligent snake that hunts other snakes and can tell if they are poisonous. When preying on non-venomous snakes, the king cobra does not easily use venom and will take a random bite, leaving its prey to struggle until it is slowly swallowed after death. When preying on venomous snakes, they will not act rashly, but constantly provoke them, and when the other party is finally provoked to attack it, they will dodge alertly, and finally when the prey is physically and mentally exhausted and unwilling to fight, take the opportunity to bite the prey by the neck and release venom to kill it.

The king cobra is agile and can rotate its head flexibly. It can not only attack the front and back, left and right directions, but also move vertically to attack the objects above its head. The venom is about 100 mg dry poison, and the average lethal dose is 12 mg. The bitten person will cause swelling, nausea, abdominal pain, respiratory paralysis, dysphasia, coma and other symptoms within a few minutes. If there is no timely drug treatment within half an hour after being bitten, a person will die.

The king cobra is a special economic animal with high economic value, and its skin, meat, blood, bile and snake venom have different medicinal values. In particular, snake venom is an extremely scarce animal medicine in the international market, which is known as "liquid gold" in the international market. Its price is dozens of times more expensive than gold, and demand exceeds supply.