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The king cobra, which is known for its reasoning and intelligence, is a rare species which is on the verge of extinction, writes T. S. N. Murthy
Although it is a member of the cobra family, the king cobra has many uncobra-like features. It cannot spread its "hood" as wide as the common cobra nor does it rear in any desired pose. But when it rears four feet high and stands motionless, staring fixedly, it is the real king of the jungle. The king cobra does most of its hunting during the day and feeds exclusively on snakes. The king cobra prefers to dwell in a jungle environment assured of heavy rainfall and a thick forest floor. It also inhabits the plains and mangrove swamps. A specimen measuring 15 ft was once captured from the Island Golf Course in Singapore where it lived unseen for a long time. Its current habitats include India, Malaysia, parts of Indonesia, north Phili-ppines, and southern China. In India, it is a rare snake found only in the dense forests of the Himalayan foothills, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Western Ghats, Andamans, and the mangrove swamps in the Sunderbans. The king cobra is an olive green snake with indistinct lighter crossbars across the back. The skin has a velvety sheen. The throat is yellow or orange. The young are jet black with conspicuous chevrons down the back. Seen from above it appears to be ringed. The king cobra is a snake-eater or ophiophagus (ophio-snake, phagus-eating). At times, the king cobra turns cannibalistic. Apart from snakes, the only reptilian diet that is relished by it are the monitor lizards. It is, however, averse to eating long-fanged vipers. The king cobra is reported to loose its cool if the prey resists and turns round instead of meekly submitting itself to be devoured. For depositing its eggs, the female king cobra is unique in being the only known snake to construct a two-chambered nest. The female sweeps the forest floor with the fore part of its body and drags dead leaves and decaying sticks into a mound of heap. Within the heap is the real nest partitioned into two chambers — the lower compartment for the eggs and the upper for the breeding female. The female lies coiled upon around the 20-40 eggs for the entire period of 60-90 days it takes for the eggs to hatch. The male also remains in attendance near the nest. The young born are 20 inches long. The massive glands of the king cobra yield a large quantity of venom, up to 500 mg which is the highest for any elapid snake in the world. An elephant bitten by the king cobra is said to die in about three hours and in two recorded cases of human victims, neither person survived half an hour. A breeding female if disturbed at its nest is reported to rise four to five feet from the ground, hiss angrily, growl like a dog and stand its ground. But despite accounts of a few cases of its unprovoked attacks on humans, the average king cobra does not pursue man on sight. Rather, it makes every effort to avoid an encounter with man. Romulus Whitaker goes further when he describes the king cobras as "timid snakes, unwilling to attack". King cobras are described as intelligent animals. Raymond Ditmars, the famous herpetologist praised its reasoning powers. The freshly introduced captives in a zoo will soon detect the character of the glass and show signs of activity when the cage doors are opened. They seem to recognise the zoo attendants but are averse to strangers. During certain religious rituals in Burma, the priests kiss the hood of an erect king cobra. King cobras are the most popular exhibits in the zoos and snake parks all over the world. Their number is however depleting. Attempts are being made, to breed them in captivity. The first known breeding of the king cobra was achieved at the Bronx Zoo, New York. The Madras Snake Park has also been successful in achieving this rare event. King cobras, like other giant reptiles, are rare animals and declared as endangered species. The Wild Life Act, 1972, affords protection to this giant. Already the Bhitar Kanika Sanctuary in Orissa, which is incidentally one of the best king cobra habitats in India, has been gazetted as a sanctuary for affording total protection to the king cobra and other reptiles inhabiting the area. While these are welcome signs ensuring a fresh lease of life to the king cobras, real protection for these creatures can be given by putting an end to the gradual destruction of their habitat.
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