Trivia question for Apr-02-2011

Carter worked on this trivia for you and he thinks he found a species that you will really like.  King Cobra’s are the largest venomous snakes in the world.  The eat other snakes (even venomous ones) by subduing them with its highly potent venom and swaollowing them whole.

This species is widespread throughout Southeast Asia and parts of India, and is found mostly in forested areas. The king cobra can be fierce, agile, and can deliver a large quantity of highly potent venom in a single bite. It is one of the most dangerous and feared Asiatic snakes.  The king cobra is a large and powerful snake, averaging 12–13 feet in length and typically weighing about 13.2 lb.

So here are Carter’s questions.  What is the difference between King Cobra’s and Asian Cobra’s?  Also, tell us which one of the two is the prefered speaies by Snake-charmers and why?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Wow, Carter did good with this one.  King cobras are larger than other cobras, and the stripe on the neck is like the symbol “^” instead of a double or single eye(s) shape that may be seen in most of the other cobras. A foolproof method of identification if the head is clearly visible is the presence of a pair of large scales known as occipitals, at the back of the top of the head. These are behind the usual “nine-plate” arrangement typical of colubrids and elapids, and are unique to the king cobra.

Aisian Cobra’s are prefered by Snake-Charmers because they are more common, are smaller and they have a broader, more impressive hood.  But in Burma, king cobras are often used by female snake charmers.

The charmer is usually tattooed with three pictograms using an ink mixed with snake venom; superstition holds that it protects the charmer from the snake.  The charmer kisses the snake on the top of its head at the end of the show.  Too cool.

Here is more on these fierce snakes: King Cobra

Thanks for playing along 😉