Difference Between King Cobra and Cobra

King Cobra vs Cobra
 

King cobra and cobra are two of the most notoriously dangerous snakes of the world. Both of them can bite almost any animal to death, by injecting their killing venom. Despite their deadliness, cobra and king cobra are amongst the most beautiful snakes with distinctive markings on the body. These elapid snakes are deadly poisonous, but the qualities and quantities of the venom are different between each other. In addition, the natural range, physical characteristics, and other biological aspects are different between them. This article intends to present their interesting facts and discuss the particular differences between cobra and king cobra.

King Cobra

King cobra, Ophiophagus hannah, is the largest or longest snake among all the venomous snakes in the world. The average length of their body is about 13 feet, but there are records of 188 feet long king cobras. Although they are long and heavy animals, the movements are agile. They naturally range in Asia, especially in South Asia (except Sri Lanka) and Southeast Asia. The venom of king cobra is mainly made up of proteins and polypeptides of neurotoxins and cardio-toxins. When they bite the prey with their 1.5 centimetre long fangs, the venom gets injected into the prey animal. Then, the central nervous system of the prey is paralysed mainly, and the cardiovascular system is attacked, as well. This envenomation causes many problems including renal failure, vision problems, and finally the victim is taken into a coma, to follow up with death. However, king cobra does not possess very highly concentrated venom as most of other snakes do, but the amount of venom injected is very high (about 8 millilitres per bite). Therefore, it could cause death even to the largest land mammal on earth, elephant. Although they can kill almost anyone in their path, king cobras mostly prefer other snakes as their food. These dangerous creatures have pale-yellow bands on the olive green, tan, or black colour background. The underside is usually light coloured with a hint of yellow. One of the most distinctive characteristic of king cobra is the so-called growl, which differs from the usual snake hiss. Their growl is a sound of low frequency ranging from 600 to 2500 Hz, while the usual snake hissing has about 3000 – 13000 Hz of frequency range.

Cobra

Cobra, Naja naja, is one of the most commonly known snakes with a high cultural significance apart from its notorious deadliness. The name cobra is a shortened version of its original term from the Portuguese language, which means the hooded snake. However, the general reference of cobra is Naja naja, there are few other cobras including Cape cobra, Spitting cobra, Tree cobra, and few others. The most distinctive characteristic of the cobra is the reared up and spread neck to display threat to others. When they perform the threat display, the dorsal view is beautiful with a distinctive mark of the “U” shape. They are quite dangerous with the presence of venom that could account for nervous failure, muscle failure, and cardiac failures to lead into necrosis and later for death if the victim is not treated with the proper anti-venom. The cobra has been a more significant character of the South Asian cultures related to Buddhism and Hinduism than any other animal.