# King Cobra

Region: Asia
Source: https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/kingcobra/

The king cobra is the longest venomous snake in the world. When it feels threatened, it spreads its hood and rears up as tall as a person. Surprisingly, it mostly eats other snakes.

## Quick facts

- **Habitat**: It lives in the forests and bamboo groves of India and Southeast Asia.
- **Diet**: It mostly eats other snakes and lizards.
- **Size and weight**: Length 3–5.5m, the longest of all venomous snakes.
- **Lifespan**: About 20 years
- **Conservation status**: Vulnerable
- **Fun facts**: It's the only snake that builds a nest and guards its eggs! / It can lift a third of its body off the ground.

## Learn more

### The forest's giant predator that eats snakes — the hidden secrets of the king cobra

The amazing story of the world's longest venomous snake.

- **The longest venomous snake** — the world's largest venomous snake, reaching 3–5.5m in length.
- **Asian forests** — it mainly lives in the warm forests and bamboo groves of India and Southeast Asia.
- **A separate lineage** — it belongs to its own genus, 'Ophiophagus,' entirely distinct from typical cobras.

### The true king of snakes

Three reasons behind the name "king cobra."

- **An overwhelming size** — despite its powerful venom, it boasts a massive body that can grow up to 5.6m.
- **A special diet** — its scientific name, Ophiophagus, literally means "snake-eater," and it mainly hunts other snakes.
- **A threatening defense** — when threatened, it can raise a third of its body — as tall as a person — and spread its hood wide.

### Not one king, but four

A new scientific finding revealed after 188 years.

- **Northern king cobra** — found widely across northern India and mainland Southeast Asia.
- **Sunda king cobra** — found on the Malay Peninsula and various Indonesian islands.
- **Western Ghats king cobra** — an endemic species isolated to the Western Ghats region of India.
- **Luzon king cobra** — a special species found only on Luzon Island in the Philippines.

### The secret of custom-made venom

Why the king cobra's venom is especially deadly to other snakes.

- **An evolutionary arms race** — the king cobra evolved its venom to hunt snakes perfectly, more than mammals.
- **A special key** — its venom is made up of special alpha-neurotoxins carrying a positive charge (+).
- **A perfect fit** — these toxins fit perfectly only into the "lock" of another snake's neural receptors, which carry a negative charge.
- **A missed fit on mammals** — this "key" doesn't fit well into the receptors of rats or lizards, making it relatively less lethal to them.

### The only architect in the snake world

A warm, surprising twist to a fearsome predator.

- **The only nest builder** — among all the world's snakes, it's the only one that builds a dedicated nest for its eggs.
- **A warm blanket of leaves** — it uses its body to gather leaves and plant material, safely covering its eggs.
- **Devoted motherhood** — it stays coiled around the nest until the eggs hatch, thoroughly protecting its young from fearsome predators.

### A gentlemanly duel between kings

A mating competition that never uses deadly venom.

- **A fight with rules** — when males compete during breeding season, they never bite each other or use their lethal venom.
- **A wrestling match of strength** — they coil around each other and push, and whoever pins the other's head to the ground first wins.
- **A peaceful outcome** — the loser quietly retreats, and the fight ends with neither snake seriously injured.

## More animals from this region

- [Tiger](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/tiger/)
- [Giant Panda](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/panda/)
- [Orangutan](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/orangutan/)
- [Snow Leopard](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/snowleopard/)
- [Komodo Dragon](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/komodo/)
- [Red Panda](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/redpanda/)

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All images and videos were made with AI to capture each animal's features, so they may look different from the real animals. The animal information comes from public sources and may contain mistakes.