King Cobra: World Longest Venomous Snake

King cobra is the longest venomous snake in the world. Although its venom is not much powerful like Black mamba or other snakes. But his large size make him more deadly. This huge snake can grow up to (19ft) and 20 kg in weight which is a lot for venomous snake. In ancient times peoples worshiped king cobra and some peoples are still doing so.

Lifestyle

King Cobra mostly lives in forested areas. This huge snake can be found in Southeast Asia and some parts of India. It normally eats other small snake that’s why its genus name is Ophiophagus , which means “snake- eater”. It can also eat pythons which is size able snakes. Its color is pale olive, tan, yellow olive color or something like this.

Hunting

This huge snake mostly hunt at day time and very little at night time. It hunts with their long fangs which may be growing up to 0.5 inches which make this snake more deadly. It swallows its prey and his toxins help him in digestion of prey. King Cobra venom is also very dangerous. The bite taken from king cobra can lead you to death. Its mortality rate of a bite is 75%.

Defense Against Enemy

The great predator of King cobra is mongoose, which is quite resistance to neurotoxins. King cobra will try to fight with its hood flatten this help him in closed mouth strikes. If all fails, he will generally try to flee. But it is also hard for mongoose to defeat such a long snake.

Venom

Due to king cobra long size and deadly venom make him perfect predator. Although his venom is not much powerful like black mamba or Russell viper. But it is five times faster reactive venom then black mamba. With every bite king cobra inject 6 mil of venom to prey with the help of its fangs. Which is enough for killing elephant in three hours. Venom is produced in salivary glands. When this huge snake injects his venom to a prey his fastest venom paralysis it in two minutes, thus the prey go in comma due to respiratory system failure and prey died.

Reproduction

The female King cobra lay about 20 to 50 eggs but before laying eggs she make a nest or mound with leaf litter to lay eggs in it. She guards her eggs and prevents any big animal to come near it. When eggs hatch a new king cobras arise from it and the life cycle of king cobra remains continuous.

Interesting Facts

• King cobra is the world longest venomous snake.
• King Cobra average life span is 20 years.
• King Cobra fastest venom allows him to kill elephant in three hours.
• King Cobra is used by snake charmers for dancing and for fun.
• King Cobra can smell blood from far away.
• King Cobra is one of the snakes who create nest or mound.
• The natural predator of king cobra is mongoose which is small mammal.
• Ancient peoples worshiped king cobras some are still doing so.

Terror and Shock: the World's Largest Snakes Ever

Snakes are scary creatures. Have you ever seen some of the world’s largest snakes? They are not only longer in size but also heavier in weight.

An Indonesian caught a 14.85m long Python weighing 447kg. Up to now, this python is regarded as the world’s largest snake. It was captured in the jungle of the western part of Sumatra Island. The owner of the snake later sold this snake to a park and the staff at the park gave it a name as “guihua”. “guihua” here, in general, refers to a type of a flower. That is why this name may sound gentle to hear, but it is indeed a scary scene when “guihua” opens its mouth while attacking its enemy. It can swallow the whole body of a human in a very short period. According to the Indonesian media, an examination on its length, weight and species has been carried out extensively by Indonesia’s National Institute of Science, Institute of Agriculture and other academic institutions. Many scientists said that they had never seen such a long snake.

According to the sources of Indonesia, it is not an easy task to subdue such a gigantic snake. It usually needs an accumulation of 8 to 10 strong men’s energy to get hold of this snake. Previously, the Guinness World Records has recorded the world’s longest snake which has a length of 10m. However, this snake was shot in 1912 in Indonesia. Meanwhile, the scientists disclosed that the discovery of this world’s longest snake is the Southeast Asia’s indigenous snake. This snake is commonly seen in Indonesia, Philippines but generally its length hardly reached to such extend.

This snake was discovered in the Amazon Rain Forest and it is the world’s largest snake. It can grow up to a maximum of 10m and weight in more than 225kg. It likes to swim in water, and sometimes it survives in the mud or in shallow water. It feeds on turtles, dolphins, tapir, and even 2 ½ m long alligator can become its prey. It chokes its prey to death before swallowing it and it can go with an empty stomach for few weeks to sustain its live. It gives birth to 70 small snakes. These vulnerable small snakes are more likely to be eaten by alligators along the shore, but when they grow bigger, the alligators will become the food that they feed on.

They are believed to be the world’s heaviest snake. They like to live in swamp, shallow river and slow moving river. They are most active at night, but sometimes you may encounter they have their bodies sunbathing along the shore. Living in the tropical regions of South America, it is also regarded as the world’s largest snake. Adult snake can grow to more than 10m long or more.

This long snake has its eyes on its head to ease its movement under the water. Adult snake can catch a meter long crocodile easily. It has been a record that this snake has eaten an American Jaguar within a few minutes. It lays eggs with each snake has a length of 60cm. Its huge body, amazing energy and scary attack has included it as the scariest creature to be scared by other animals in the food chain. Its attack is just like a movie of “anaconda” that you may have watched. When the living thing is being captured by this snake, it will get hold of its prey tightly and later a bone fracture sound can be heard.

Have you ever thought of how the snake, particularly the python captured a Kangaroo and then eating it greedily and cruelly? Now, see yourself the whole process on how the python is swallowing the kangaroo that I managed to capture.

Now you may wonder how the giant python swallowing one big animal like a pig. First, the python swallowed its head and then it gradually swallowed the entire body of the pig. As the python’s lower jaw can be misplaced as it desires, and thus it can swallow animals that are bigger than its size. Now, watch the whole process on how the python has turned the pig into its delicious meal. Here are photos I managed to capture to share with you.

Lastly, what can I say about these snakes. They’re indeed very scary, aren’t they?

World’s Most Dangerous Snake

Many people think that the most venomous snakes are probably the most dangerous but that is not necessarily true. The most dangerous snake in the world has to be the Black Mamba which is both highly venomous and aggressive.
Some people think that the inland Taipan is the most dangerous snake but that is not true. They may be the most venomous snakes in the world but not the most dangerous.
In my opinion, the Black Mamba has to be the most dangerous snake because not only its highly venomous, its also extremely aggressive.

The black mamba is the longest venomous snake in Africa and the second longest venomous snake after the King Cobra. It is known to reach a maximum length of 4.5 meters. It is also the fastest snake in world able to reach speeds in excess of 12 miles per hour.

The skin of Black Mamba’s is olive Grey. They get their name from the blackish interior of their mouth which they display when threatened. Black Mamba’s are nervous snakes and if cornered, they raise themselves a third of their body from the ground and hiss loudly at their attacker. They are able to raise themselves four feet of the ground and hit their attackers repeatedly with fast multiple strikes. Unlike many other snakes, black mamba’s can strike up to twelve times in a row. Full grown Black Mamba’s are able to strike from 4-6 feet away.

A single bite from a Black Mamba can kill up to 20 to 25 grown men. A bite from a Black Mamba is 100% fatal unless anti-venom is given in time. Death can result between 15 minutes and 3 hours depending on the nature of the bite. This involves factors as such as location of the bite, amount of venom injected and penetration of one or both fangs. The Black Mamba’s are found in habitat’s such as savannas, rocky places and open woodlands. They have also been found in houses. Black Mamba’s eat small mammal’s and birds. They strike large animals and then release it. Then they stalk their victim until it becomes paralyzed so they can easily swallow their prey using their flexible jaws and muscles. Once a mamba was found with a full grown Forest Cobra in it stomach. Its definitely not a snake to be messed with.

Biggest Anaconda Snakes Found: Some Facts About It!

There has always been a lot of debate as to which snake holds the record of being the biggest snake. Anacondas have more often been considered the largest snake because of its huge dimensions. It is the biggest snake also because of its mass and weight. The other largest snake that comes nearest to it is the Asiatic Reticulated Python or scientifically known as Python reticulates.

Anacondas in the jungles of South America are considered to be bigger than the Python snake. The debate regarding the biggest anaconda found has not been resolved yet by crypto zoologist or zoologists. However, know that a fully grown anaconda snakes can easily kill a tiger or a crocodile.

Green Anacondas also known as water boas are considered to be the biggest and heaviest snakes in the world. The biggest snakes of these species can grow to be up to 35 feet (11 meters) long and can weigh up to 1,000 pounds (500 kilograms). The Green Anaconda, supposed to be the biggest snake found is of a dark green colour with black oval patches on its back.

This drab pattern enables the snake to easily blend with the wet, dense vegetations of its habitat. The sides have similar spots with yellow centers. There have been a lot of stories going around that the biggest Anaconda would probably be more than 40 feet, but such stories and reports have not yet been proved. Specimen's bigger than 35 feet have never been captured.

Anacondas of such huge size are termed as cryptids. Anacondas of such huge length are extremely rare to sight. Instead stories of such big anacondas devouring animals and human beings are found more in films and stories but in real life they are probably extremely rare.

European colonisers and explorers as well as natives are reported to have first sighted the biggest anaconda's measuring up to 60 feet (18 meters) long in the dense jungles of South America. The Wildlife Conservation Society in the early 20th century onwards offered a large cash reward for the delivery of any snake (live) of 30 feet or more in length.

The prize has never been claimed despite the numerous reporting and sightings of giant anacondas. There has also been several surveys carried on in Brazil but those found are no where near to the claims of the biggest anaconda found.

There have been several claims about the biggest anaconda found. A colombia petrolium expedition in 1944 claimed that they have measured an anaconda 37.5 feet long. A scientist named Vincent Roth claimed that he had shot a Anaconda 34 feet long. Percy Faucett, an adventurer made a tall claim.

The biggest Anaconda found by him measured 62 feet from nose to tail. Faucett claimed that he had shot the Anaconda. A historian named Mike Dash has been severely criticized by critics because he said he had sighted Anaconda's ranging from 100 to 150 feet. Mike Dash supported his arguments with the help of pictures but pictures unfortunately do not have scale.

There have been so many claims and counter claims that it is difficult to ascertain the biggest Anaconda snakes that have been sighted. It could range from more than 30 feet to 150 feet.

Sand boas

Sand Boas are related to the well-known boa constrictor of South America. They are also closely related to the python. All these non-venomous snakes kill their prey by squeezing them in their muscular coils.

There are three species of sand boas in India. All are stocky, thick-bodied snakes, especially suited for underground activities.

• Common sand boa (Eryx conicus) has a blotched pattern of spots and wavy bands and a very rough, keeled, dull body
• Red sand boa (Eryx johnii) : it is reddish brown , smooth and glossy.
• Whitaker's sand boa Eryx whitakeri) : Recently described by Romous Whitaker

However, the greatest dissimilarity is in the tail. The red sand boa (which is black in north-west India) has a tail so blunt that it looks as though it has been chopped off. In temperament too they do not resemble each other. The common sand boa is easily irritated and is quick to strike and bite, while the red sand boa has great patience and will never bite. This makes it an ideal snake for a child to be introduced to. Sand boas mostly eat rodents, which makes them another friend of the farmer. Sand boas have live young, usually 6 to 8, and newly hatched boas eat small mice, lizards, birds and insects.

Indian Red Sand Boa

Indian sand boas scales have small litters, typically 4-10 babies in each. Babies are born red with black stripes. As the snakes age, the stripes fade and the orange becomes brown. There are a few lines that retain the orange.

It's Red sand boa...part of Boa's family its a constrictor snake and non venomous. Pretty young one hence the colors....as they grow they loose the red to gain brownish..

Probably the only snake which can dig in the sand...that's why the front tip of the nose is so hard...acts like a shovel...

Red Sand Boa

A great creativity of nature Red Sand Boa.

Largest snake as long as a bus

Artist's impression showing the giant snake Titanoboa cerrejonensis

The discovery of fossilized remains belonging to the world's largest snake has been reported in Nature journal. By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

Titanoboa was 13m (42ft) long - about the length of a bus - and lived in the rain forest of north-east Colombia 58-60 million years ago.

The snake was so wide it would have reached up to a person's hips, say researchers, who have estimated that it weighed more than a tonne.

Green anacondas - the world's heaviest snakes - reach a mere 250kg (550lbs).

Reticulated pythons - the world's longest snakes - can reach up to 10m (32ft).

Snakes had the opportunity to evolve and grow as big as this one did in a way that they probably wouldn't today P David Polly, Indiana University

The team of researchers led by Jason Head, from the University of Toronto at Mississauga, Canada, used a known mathematical relationship between the size of vertebrae and the length of the body in living snakes to estimate the size of the ancient animal.

Named Titanoboa cerrejonensis by its discoverers, the beast's 13m-long body and 1,140kg (2,500lb) weight make it the largest snake on record.

"At its greatest width, the snake would have come up to about your hips. The size is pretty amazing," said co-author P David Polly, from Indiana University in Bloomington, US.

Researchers discovered fossilized bones belonging to the super-sized slitherers and their possible prey at Cerrejon, one of the world's largest open-pit coal mines. The animal is a relative of modern boa constrictors.

Warming world

"Probably like an anaconda, it spent a lot of time in the water," said Professor Polly.

"It would have needed to eat a lot.

"What its prey was exactly, we don't know. But it probably included alligators, big fish or crocodiles."

The researchers also used the reptile's size to make an estimate of Earth's temperature 58 to 60 million years ago in tropical South America.

Palaeontologists have long known that as temperatures go up and down over geological time, generally speaking, so does the upper size limit of cold-blooded creatures - or poikilotherms.

This is because the metabolism of a poikilotherm is more or less controlled by the average temperature of its environment.

Assuming the Earth today was not particularly unusual, the researchers calculated that a snake of Titanoboa's size would have required an average annual temperature of 30C to 34C (86F to 93F) to survive.

By comparison, the average yearly temperature of today's Cartagena, a Colombian coastal city, is about 28C.

Opportunity knocks

"A snake living in the tropics would have been operating at a much higher metabolic rate," said Professor Polly.

"So snakes had the opportunity to evolve and grow as big as this one did in a way that they probably wouldn't today."

Titanoboa (r)" vspace="0" width="226" border="0" height="170" hspace="0"> A vertebra from an anaconda (l) is dwarfed by one from Titanoboa (r)

He added that as the Earth warmed up in future, cold-blooded animals could be expected to evolve larger bodies.

Dr Head adds that the find "challenges our understanding of past climates and environments, as well as the biological limitations on the evolution of giant snakes."

However, Dr Matthew Huber, a climatologist from Purdue University in Indiana, who was not connected with the study, questioned whether the link between size and temperature was "generalizable and accurate".

He commented: "Head and colleagues' findings are the result of probably the first study in 'snake palaeothermometry', and as such must be viewed with caution."

Thai villagers work to keep snakes warm: BAN KHOK SANGA

BAN KHOK SANGA, Thailand, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Residents of a village in Thailand have had an unusual problem recently -- unusual for them, anyway -- keeping their cobras warm.
Ban Khok Sanga in the northeastern part of the country is famous for its cobra shows, Thai News Agency reports. The village is home to about 300 king cobras -- the world's largest venomous snake -- and 20 snake charmers.

Thailand has been hit with unusually cold weather with temperatures dropping low enough to kill unprotected snakes. The cold also makes the cobras lethargic.
"When the snakes are warm, they'll move fast and turn their bodies fast when fighting," said Bancha Laorad, a snake charmer. "If not, they'll be very slow and not elegant."
The villagers use scraps of cloth and hay to insulate the caskets in which they keep the snakes. They also make sure all the snakes get a daily dose of sunlight.
"The UVA from the sunlight helps spur the snakes' activity. It also stimulates the immunity of the serpents. If the snakes don't have the appropriate temperature and sunlight in the morning, they tend to die easily," said Sompoch Weerakul, an assistant professor at the Khon Kaen University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

Fossil of largest snake found in Colombia

BOGOTA, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Fossilized remains of a 42-foot-long, 2,500-pound snake discovered in northeastern Colombia represent the biggest snake ever found, scientists say.
The researchers, led by Jason Head of the University of Toronto, estimate the snake, called Titanoboa cerrejonensis, lived 58 million to 60 million years ago, the BBC reported Wednesday.
By comparison, the heaviest snakes living today, the green anacondas, weigh only about 550 pounds and reticulated pythons can reach about 32 feet long.
The researchers used the mathematical relationship between the size of vertebrae and the length of the body in living snakes to project the size of the prehistoric serpent.
"At its greatest width, the snake would have come up to about your hips. The size is pretty amazing," said co-author P. David Polly of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
The snake fossil was found at Cerrejon, one of the world's largest open-pit coal mines. It was related to today's boa constrictors.
"Probably like an anaconda, it spent a lot of time in the water," Polly said.
"It would have needed to eat a lot. What its prey was exactly, we don't know. But it probably included alligators, big fish or crocodiles."
The researchers' findings were reported in the Nature scientific journal.