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Naja najaIndian Cobra

By Joel Ramirez

Ge­o­graphic Range

Pak­istan, India (through­out most of the coun­try),

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, pos­si­bly E. Afghanistan. (EMBL Rep­tile Data­base 2001)

Habi­tat

Naja naja oc­curs in wild for­est and in cul­ti­vated areas. (Trop­i­cal Rain­for­est An­i­mals, 2000)

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

The In­dian Cobra's most known char­ac­ter­is­tic fea­tures are the wide black band on the un­der­side of the neck, and the hood mark­ing de­sign which shows half-rings on ei­ther side of the hood. It is a smooth-scaled snake with black eyes, a wide neck and head, and a medium-sized body. Its colour­ing varies from black, to dark brown, to a creamy white. The body is usu­ally cov­ered with a spec­ta­cled white or yel­low pat­tern, which some­times forms ragged bands. The In­dian cobra may grow from 1.8m to 2.2m. (In­di­a4U,2000; Dis­cov­ery, 2000; Breen, 1974)

Re­pro­duc­tion

The In­dian Cobra re­pro­duces sex­u­ally by the join­ing of male and fe­male ga­metes and pro­duces eggs. Most snakes do not pay much at­ten­tion to their eggs, but this is not the case with the In­dian Cobra. The eggs, usu­ally 12 to 20, are laid in a hol­low tree, or in the earth, and the fe­male will guard them through­out the in­cu­ba­tion pe­riod, only leav­ing to feed. The young snakes will then hatch after ap­prox­i­mately 50 days. Im­me­di­ately free­ing it­self from the egg, a hatch­ling is ca­pa­ble of rear­ing up, spread­ing its hood and strik­ing. (Breen, 1974; Bur­ton, 1991; Trop­i­cal Rain­for­est An­i­mals, 2000)

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Be­hav­ior

When threat­ened, the In­dian Cobra will as­sume its char­ac­ter­is­tic pos­ture. It will raise the front one-third of its body and elon­gate its long, flex­i­ble neck ribs and loose skin to form its dis­tinc­tive hood, on which are re­sem­bled eyes. (Bur­ton, 1991; Trop­i­cal Rain­for­est An­i­mals, 2000; Dis­cov­ery, 2000; Breen, 1974)

Food Habits

The In­dian cobra feeds on ro­dents, lizards and frogs. It bites quickly, and then waits while its venom dam­ages the ner­vous sys­tem of the prey, par­a­lyz­ing and often killing it. Like all snakes, N. naja swal­lows its prey whole. This species some­times en­ters build­ings in search of ro­dent prey. (Breen, 1974; Bur­ton, 1991)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

The In­dian Cobra eats rats and mice that carry dis­ease and eat human food. Also, cobra venom is a po­ten­tial source of med­i­cines, in­clud­ing anti-can­cer drugs and pain-killers. (Dis­cov­ery, 2000; Bur­ton, 1991)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

This species is highly ven­omous, and its bite can be lethal. Be­cause it hunts ro­dents that live around peo­ple, it is often en­coun­tered by ac­ci­dent, and many peo­ple die each year from N. naja bites. (Bur­ton, 1991)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Al­though the In­dian Cobra is not an en­dan­gered species, it has re­cently been hunted for its dis­tinc­tive hood mark­ings in the pro­duc­tion of hand­bags. It is listed under the CITES treaty be­cause it closely re­sem­bles other species that are threat­ened and in need of pro­tec­tion. (Bur­ton, 1991; Trop­i­cal Rain­for­est An­i­mals, 2000)

Other Com­ments

This species is often kept by the "snake charm­ers" of India. This form of en­ter­tain­ment can be quite mys­te­ri­ous as the cobra seems to dance to the melody of the snake charmer's pipe. Ac­tu­ally, snakes can­not hear. They are pro­voked into a strik­ing po­si­tion and are held in a con­cen­trat­ing ef­fort to fol­low the charmer's hands and pipe, which re­sults in their "danc­ing" move­ment. (Bur­ton, 1991)

Con­trib­u­tors

Joel Ramirez (au­thor), Fresno City Col­lege, Jerry Kirkhart (ed­i­tor), Fresno City Col­lege.

Glossary

Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

oriental

found in the oriental region of the world. In other words, India and southeast Asia.

World Map

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

Ref­er­ences

2000. Dis­cov­ery Chan­nel. Rep­tiles and Am­phib­ians. New York: Dis­cov­ery Books.

"Trop­i­cal Rain­for­est An­i­mals" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 20, 2000 at http://​mbgnet.​mobot.​org/​sets/​rforest/​animals/​cobra.​htm.

Breen, J. 1974. En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Rep­tiles and Am­phib­ians. New York: T.F.H. Pub­li­ca­tions.

Bur­ton, J. 1991. The Book of Snakes. Quarto Pub­lish­ing.

EMBL Rep­tile Data­base, 2001. "Naja naja" (On-line). Ac­cessed 28 March 2001 at http://​www.​embl-heidelberg.​de/​~uetz/LivingReptiles.​html.

india4u.​com, 2000. "Poi­so­nous Snakes of India" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 21, 2000 at http://​www.​india4u.​com/​wildlife/​snakes.​asp.

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