King cobra

King cobras eat other snakes.

They hunt big snakes such as rat snakes and pythons. They even eat other cobras.

King cobras mostly eat cold-blooded animals, especially other snakes. Their usual meals are large, harmless snakes such as rat snakes and pythons up to about 3 meters long, but they also eat venomous snakes, including other cobras and kraits.

Some king cobras are very fussy and will eat only one kind of snake. A king cobra's venom quickly stops its prey from moving, and then the snake swallows its meal.

The diet is normally restricted to ectotherms, particularly other snakes: mostly larger nonvenomous species such as Asian rat snakes, dhamans and pythons up to about 3 meters, as well as Indian cobras, kraits and occasionally small king cobras. Some individuals specialize on a single snake species and refuse other prey.

Venom from glands attached to the fangs is forced through the hollow fangs by a small muscle. Its neurotoxins act within minutes on the prey's nervous system, especially the signals that control breathing, and other components begin digestion. The backward-angled fangs help work the prey down the throat.

King cobras are shy.

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.

King cobras have a fierce reputation, but they are actually cautious snakes that usually escape if they can. They defend themselves only when they are cornered or bothered, or when a mother is guarding her nest. In fact, they are more careful than many smaller snakes.

Rival male king cobras sometimes wrestle. It is more like a pushing contest than a fight: the first snake to push the other's head down to the ground wins.

Despite its reputation, the king cobra prefers to escape unless provoked and is more cautious than many smaller snakes; it defends itself when cornered or when guarding eggs, and nesting females are the exception that may defend the nest without being provoked. The National Zoo estimates it causes fewer than five human deaths a year across its range, about one-fifth of those caused by rattlesnakes in North America.

Rival males settle contests with ritual combat in which each tries to press the other's head to the ground. The zoo lists persecution by people among the main threats to king cobras, and its advice is simple: if you see a snake in the wild, leave it alone and encourage others to do the same.

King cobras are in danger in many places.

The forests where they live are being cut down. People can help by leaving snakes alone and protecting forests.

King cobras are listed as Vulnerable. Their forests are being cut down or turned into farms, and people hunt and harm them.

Snakes are useful neighbors: king cobras eat other snakes, and many snakes keep the number of rats and mice down. Learning about snakes, protecting forests and leaving wild snakes alone all help. Knowing there may be four kinds of king cobra also helps scientists protect the rare ones.

The IUCN assessed the king cobra as Vulnerable in 2011 (criteria A2acd, a population reduction), with a decreasing trend; the assessment lists agriculture, logging and hunting as threats, records trade for pets, food, medicine and skins, and is flagged as needing an update. The National Zoo names habitat destruction and persecution by people as the main threats.

The 2024 taxonomic revision matters for conservation. Study co-author Wolfgang Wüster has pointed out that the Western Ghats and Luzon king cobras are restricted to relatively small areas that have lost a great deal of forest, so their needs must be considered separately from the widespread northern and Sunda species. The split could also lead to region-specific antivenoms; in 2024 only one king cobra-specific antivenom was produced, in Thailand.