After the snake was captured, experts measured to determine the animal’s size and said the snake was 4.87m long and weighed 22kg. The animal was then released by rescue experts into its natural environment, in an area far away from human habitation.
Not the most venomous snake in the world, the king cobra is the largest venomous snake in the world, with an average length of 3 to 4 meters, with some recorded cases of individual king cobras reaching nearly 6 meters in length. Therefore, the size of up to nearly 5 meters of the newly captured king cobra is quite rare.
This venomous snake lives mainly in the rain forests and plains of India, southern China and Southeast Asia.
The king cobra’s venom affects the respiratory center in the brain, causing apnea and heart failure, leading to death within about 30 minutes after the bite if not treated promptly.
The venom in a king cobra bite can be enough to kill 20 adults. In many cases, king cobras can deliver a dry bite, which is a bite that does not inject venom and the victim can survive the bite without needing treatment, however, this rarely happens.
Confusion in the name of the king cobra
One interesting thing is the name of this snake. Many people often mistakenly call this snake the “king cobra”. However, according to scientists, the correct name of this snake is “king tiger” because this species does not belong to the true cobra genus (genus Naja), but is the only species of the Ophiophagus genus. Both of these genera belong to the cobra family (Elapidae).
The name “king cobra” comes from the ability of this snake to raise its head and spread its gills, however, the size of the king cobra’s gills is significantly smaller than that of real cobras. The body size, venom and biological structure of the king tiger also have many differences compared to other cobra species.
Theo Vpress/ITN