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King Cobra

Ophiophagus hannah · medium

The king cobra is the longest venomous snake in the world, occasionally exceeding five metres, and it is not a true cobra — it sits in a genus of its own, named ophiophagus, meaning snake-eater, because that is very largely what it eats. Its diet is other snakes, including venomous ones, to which it appears to have some resistance.

It is the only snake known to build a nest. The female gathers leaf litter into a mound with coils of her body, lays inside it, and stays on guard for months, defending the site until shortly before the eggs hatch. That degree of parental investment is exceptional among reptiles.

The hood is formed by extending long ribs behind the head; the raised posture that goes with it can lift a third of the animal's body off the ground, sometimes to the eye level of a person. The warning growl is unusually low-pitched for a snake.

Its venom is not the most potent among snakes but is delivered in large quantity, which is what makes a bite so serious. King cobras live in forest and plantation across South and Southeast Asia, and are declining mainly through logging of the dense cover they need.

Where it lives

Worml lists the king cobra as native to 13 countries — Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Its habitat is tropical forest, mangrove swamp and bamboo thicket.

Ranges here are reduced to whole countries for playability and exclude introduced populations — see about the data for what that simplification leaves out.

In the game

King Cobra is rated medium and appears on Worm Wednesday. To solve the round you need to find any 7 of its 13 listed countries. How scoring works →

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