King Cobra is the largest venomous snake in the world, growing to a length of 19 feet in the wild. It is also the only snake in the world that is known to make its own nest. The female lays eggs in a heap of decomposing leaf-litter. When the eggs are about to hatch, the female leaves the area as being a snake eater, she may eat her own offspring if she comes across them.
The King Cobra feeds on a variety of snakes and monitor lizards but one of its most preferred food is the Checkered Keelback, a snake found in ponds, streams and rivers of its habitat. In India, the King Cobra is distributed across Himalayan foothills from Uttarakhand eastwards into north-east India, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Eastern Ghats and in the Western Ghats. It also occurs in the south-east Asia where it is commonly found in the suitable habitat in Bangladesh, Myanmar, South China, Indo-China, Thailand and Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines.
This young King Cobra, about 8-9 feet in length, was observed by Jim’s Jungle Retreat guests on a safari to Jhirna zone of Corbett Tiger Reserve along with our naturalist Jeewan Rautela.