Cobra

Egyptian Cobra

Cobras are venomous snakes of family Elapidae, of several genera. (Elapidae also include the taipans, brown snakes, tiger snakes, fierce snakes, coral snakes, mambas, and sea snakes.) Cobras generally inhabit tropical and desert regions of Asia and Africa. Elapidae cannot fold their fangs down, as Viperidae can, so the fangs are generally shorter. Most are quite large, reaching on average 1.2â€"2.5m in length. The King Cobra may reach up to 5.2m, making it the largest venomous snake in the world. They kill their prey, usually small rodents and birds, by injecting a neurotoxin through their nearly hollow fangs. The neurotoxin blocks the synaptic communication between the victim's neurons and muscles, thus stopping movement and control. The snake will only attack a human if provoked or in other extreme circumstances which threaten its survival. Furthermore, not all bites result in envenomation and in the case of the Cobra the amount of "blank" strikes may be quite high: in one series of recorded bites in Malaysia only 55% of strikes had been poisonous. The King Cobra eats other snakes; it feeds almost entirely on other snakes, even venomous ones (ophiophagy). The spitting cobra can also incapacitate larger would-be predators by delivering venom to their eyes. Cobras come in varying colors from black or dark brown to yellowish white. The (jet) black cobra found in Pakistan and North India is considered a sub-species of Indian Cobra (Naja naja).
The cobra's most recognizable feature is its hood, a flap of skin and muscle behind the head which it can flare, perhaps for the purpose of making it appear bigger and more threatening to predators. The cobra's predators include the mongoose and some raptors.

"Cobra" is the Portuguese common name for a snake; it came from late Latin *colobra (for classical coluber, colubra). When Portuguese navigators arrived to the coasts of Africa and South Asia in the 16th century, they named the cobras "cobra-capelo" = "hood-snake"; from this compound, the name entered Spanish, French, English, and other European languages.

The cobra is important in Hindu symbolism, see under Naga (mythology).

Snakes named Cobra

True Cobras:

Africa:
* Spitting cobra, (Various species)
* Egyptian Cobra, Naja haje
* Cape Cobra, Naja nivea

Asia:
* Indian Cobra, Naja naja
** Monocled Cobra, Naja naja kaouthia
** Black Cobra, Naja naja oxiana Despite the names, the following snakes are not strictly classified as cobras and do not belong to the cobra genus Naja.
* Eastern Water Cobra, Boulengerina annulata stormsi
* Gold's Tree Cobra, Psuedohaje goldii
* Shield-Nosed Cobra, Aspidelaps lubricus lubricus
* King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah
* False Cobra, Malpolon moilensis

Trivia

*The archaic term asp was used to describe many venomous snakes and the asp said to have been used by Cleopatra VII to commit suicide may have been an Egyptian cobra.
*A pair of cobras are the villains in Rudyard Kipling's short story, "Rikki Tikki Tavi".

External links

*Integrated Taxonomic Information System Serpentes