The Mystical King Cobra and Coffee Forests
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Even though, many pictures look alike, each is different and has a different story to tell. We have encountered many risks photographing these rare and magnificent reptiles and we hope these pictures will inspire you to make conservation of nature as one among your top new year resolutions. We are sure that all of you will agree that , we have received much more from Nature than what we have given back.
DESCRIPTION : The King Cobra, a religious icon in India and the country's National reptile, is the world's longest venomous snake.
The King cobra, the longest of all living venomous snakes in the wild, is truly a magnificent creature which exudes awe and inspiration. The species is not a true cobra of the genus Naja (spectacled cobra ) instead is categorized into a separate genus whose scientific name derives from the Greek for "Snake-eating".
DISTRIBUTION: The King Cobra is found in densely forested areas of Karnataka (Western Ghats ), Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and the Andaman Islands. Indonesia, Southern China and South east Asia ,once had large populations of the ecologically vital snakes, some specimens of which grow to 18 feet in length and weigh up to 12 kg, though the average length of the snake is 3 to 4 meters and its average weight is 6 kg.
HABITAT: The primary dwelling place of king cobras is the rain forest, grasslands and plains. They prefer thick undergrowth and clusters of bamboo. It is known to occur from sea level to mountainous regions. If you think, king cobras live only in deep jungles, then you are wrong. They also do well in fields and other human dominated landscapes where they hunt other snakes.
By and large they prefer dense forests, with water bodies in the vicinity. By eating other venomous snakes, the king cobras play an important role in the ecosystem, keeping the balance so that the numbers of other snakes are kept down. The king cobra is not an aggressive snake. They mostly enter the human settlements while chasing their prey. They act as bio-control agents for other venomous snakes which cause thousands of fatalities every year.
BEHAVIOUR: Many people are scared of the extremely long tongue of the King Cobra. It is longer than any other species of snake. They have the ability to collect smell on their tongue and then use receptors in the mouth to determine if it is food, a threat, or if the surroundings are safe. They are also believed to be able to see up to 300 feet away so even predators not very close to them are at risk. This type of vision is uncommon among snakes and it is believed to be one of the principal attributes that allows the King to thrive.
HOOD: King cobras, like other cobras, have distinctive hoods that they can flair out for mating, attack or territorial purposes. When not spreading their hoods, king cobras keep the extra skin limp close to their body. To spread the hood, the cobra flexes its ribs to bring the hood skin out. The hood itself does not have any practical function, but the snake uses it to display aggression and for courting practices.
COLORS: Their coloration varies, depending on region and altitude. King cobras come in a wide variety of colors, depending on their region. Their bodies themselves can be light green, black, brown or some combination or mixture of the three. Sometimes they have bands around their bodies in colors like white, yellow or beige. These bands vary in thickness, color and number from snake to snake. King cobras always have yellow bellies, no matter what color the rest of their bodies are. The bellies are either smooth or segmented with bars. Young king cobras are solid black with bright bands on their bodies.
MOVEMENT: King cobras have unique movement patterns due to their size and strength. To strike or assess a threat, king cobras can lift roughly one-third of their body off the ground and still move around. According to National Geographic, a large king cobra can look a full-grown human in the eyes. King cobras climb trees, swim and move quickly across land.
STATUS: According to Romulus Whitaker, herpetologist and founder of Madras Snake Park, the King cobra has been been declared a vulnerable species and placed on the IUCN red list because of massive trade in its skin, meat and body parts for Chinese medicines in Southeast Asia.
PROTECTION: The King cobra is protected under Schedule II of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act. "Anyone killing the snake could be imprisoned for up to six years," Whitaker says. "A study using radio telemetry is being carried out at Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARS) in Karnataka to learn more about the snake to help in conservation of the species."
VENOM: Researchers have been studying King Cobra venom for over 75 years and are constantly identifying new compounds. The venom in fact is a cocktail of complex biological ,olecules that seem to change composition depending on the prey as well as the surrounding environment. One single bite contains enough neurotoxins to kill 20 people. Though theirs is not the most poisonous venom in the world, king cobras inject so much venom with one bite that they can paralyze and kill animals as large as elephants.
The specific amount of fluid released in one bite is 1 oz. The king cobra's venom is a neurotoxin that affects the nervous system and can shut down a victim's heart because it contains traces of cardiotoxic compounds in it. Only the Gaboon viper can inject more venom with its bite. The king cobra produces this venom out of polypeptides and proteins in special glands located behind the eyes. The venom flows through the fangs when the snake attacks, and it gets into the area of the bite, working rapidly to disable its prey.
MATING: From January to March male king cobras seek out a mate by following chemical pheromone signals released by the females. Once located, the male employs courtship behaviors such as rubbing the head along the female's body, which may develop into butting and nudging actions if the female shows reticence to mate.
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Published: January 2013
