Indian cobra

Indian cobras eat rats and mice.

They also eat frogs, lizards and other snakes. Farmers' fields have lots of rats, so cobras help keep the number of rats down.

Indian cobras mostly hunt rodents, such as rats and mice. They also eat lizards, frogs, other snakes, small birds and birds' eggs. Because rats and mice live near people and their crops, cobras sometimes come into fields and even buildings to hunt them.

A cobra bites its prey quickly, then waits while its venom stops the animal from moving. Then it swallows its meal whole, as all snakes do.

The diet includes rodents, lizards, other snakes, frogs, and small birds and their eggs (IUCN). The cobra bites quickly and then waits while its venom, which acts on the nervous system, paralyzes the prey, which is swallowed whole (Animal Diversity Web).

Because it eats so many rodents in farmland, the IUCN calls the Indian cobra an important agent of pest control, and the San Diego Zoo describes it as an important predator that consumes large numbers of rats. The same habits bring it into contact with people, since it may enter buildings in search of rodents.

Indian cobras often live near farms and villages.

They would rather slip away than meet people. If you ever see a snake, stay well back, leave it alone and tell a grown-up.

Indian cobras are active mostly in the daytime, though they are often seen in the late evening. Because they hunt rats and mice, they often live near farms and villages, and that means people and cobras meet.

A cobra's hood display is a warning, not an attack: it is telling you to keep away. The safest thing is to stay well back, leave the snake alone and tell an adult.

The Indian cobra is diurnal, though often seen in the late evening (IUCN), and its hunting of rodents brings it into fields, villages and buildings. The World Health Organization describes snakebite as a neglected public health issue in many tropical and subtropical countries, most of them in Africa, Asia and Latin America; agricultural workers and children are the most affected, and the WHO stresses that highly effective treatment exists.

In India, the spectacled cobra is one of the so-called big four snakes to which a significant number of snakebites are attributed, and India's commercial antivenom is made against the venoms of these four species (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2019). Cobra venom for antivenom production is collected from snakes kept on farms, according to the IUCN.

There are many Indian cobras.

In India they are protected by law. People should leave wild cobras alone so they can keep catching rats.

The Indian cobra is common and widespread, so it is listed as least concern, and its numbers seem stable. In India it is protected by law, and it lives in many protected areas.

It still faces some problems: people catch cobras for their skins and to collect their venom, sometimes illegally, and because they are venomous and common on farmland, cobras are sometimes killed by people.

The IUCN lists Naja naja as Least Concern (assessed 2019, published 2021) with a stable trend, citing its wide range, abundance and adaptability despite harvesting pressure. In India it is protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, and it occurs in many protected areas; all Naja species are listed under CITES.

Local pressures include collection for the leather trade (India has controlled the export of cobra skins since 1973, yet skins are still processed in large numbers), illegal collection for venom, and persecution of venomous snakes in farmland. Snake charmers have also kept cobras, defanged, as a livelihood; the San Diego Zoo notes that India's wildlife protection law has banned snake charming since 1991.