Cobra (snake)

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Image:Najahaje.jpg 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. Elapidae cannot fold their fangs down, as Viperdae can, so the fangs are generally shorter. They generally inhabit tropical and desert regions of Asia and Africa. Cobras kill their prey, usually small rodents and birds, by injecting a neurotoxin through their hollow fangs. The neurotoxin blocks the synaptic communication between the victim's neurons and muscles, thus stopping movement and control. The King Cobra notably 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 cobra.

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.

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Snakes named Cobra

True Cobras:

Spitting cobra, (Various species)
Cape Cobra, Naja nivea
Indian Cobra, Naja naja
Egyptian Cobra, Naja haje
Monocled Cobra, Naja naja kaouthia

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

Black Cobra, Naja naja oxiana

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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".

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