Material Examined : 1 juvenile

Description & Scalation : Head large, broader than neck. Hood longer and narrower than the other cobras. Eye medium, with round pupil; nostrils large; frontal not truncated anteriorly; no loreal; 1 preocular in contact with posterior nasal, separated from the internasal by the prefrontal; a pair of large occipital shields in contact with one another; 3 postoculars; temporals 2+3. Scales smooth, oblique in 17 or 19:15:15 rows, vertebral scales enlarge posteriorly; supralabials 7 ( 3rd and 4th in contact with the eye ); infralabials 9, first 4 touching the first pair of genials, no cuneate scale on the lower jaw; ventrals 230; subcaudals 90 ( first 10 entire, 80 paired ); anal entire.

Coloration : 3 color forms known in adults. Few are without bands and resemble Indian Rat Snake.

1. Deep rust-brown above, with some scales distinctly bordered with white and black on the hood, which creates a chevron-shaped marking, pointing forwards on the anterior part of the body, these bands expand on the sides of the body. Indistinct black bands on posterior part of the body, distinct black irregular cross-bars on the tail. Uniform glossy rust-brown below. Head deep rust-brown. This color form oftenly seen in North Wandoor, South Andaman Islands.
2. Uniform grayish-brown above, unbanded. Generally seen in the north of South Andaman Islands.
3. A single record of yellowish specimen with black and white bands was seen in North Wandoor, South Andaman Islands.

Juveniles are glossy bluish-black above with a series of narrow, equidistant yellow bands that encircle the body and tail, chevron-shaped markings on hood. Underside creamish, with black narrow broken bands, tail black with yellow bands. Head black with 4 bars, these bars are composed of a series of elongated spots, one on the snout, one in front of and one just behind the eye and a crescentic one on the back of the head.

Natural History : The largest venomous snake. Diurnal and terrestrial as well as arboreal. Extremely alert and fast in its movements, active by early morning and late evening. Inhabits in tropical rainforest. Mostly seen in mangrove and pandanus swamp, thick primary forest, rice fields and near fresh-water banks or streams, many individuals were encountered near human habitations and few of them inside the huts or houses, also seen inside caves while resting in the crevice inhabited by bats and swiftlets. One adult of color form (b) approx 3.5m was observed in the late evening (1800hrs), near by a fresh-water stream, on Interview Island in North Andaman, its coloration being so similar to Indian Rat Snake that at first glance, we thought it was a common Rat Snake. As we approached closer, it slowly spread its hood, revealing its identity. Though the snake noticed us, there was no aggressive reaction, it just stared at us for about five minutes and then climbed slowly on a huge dead tree and again came out from the tree trunk hole, with the spread hood and again stared at us for a few minutes and then slowly disappeared in a bush. According to our local guide it was the daily waterway or path of that King Cobra. Another adult approx 2.3m of color form (a) was observed at the ANET BASE in North Wandoor, South Andaman Islands at about 0930 hrs. Also a road-kill juvenile of 50cm was observed in Webbi Village, Mayabunder, Middle Andaman Island and it had swallowed a juvenile of Lycodon capucinus ( Oriental Wolf Snake ). A researcher had reported seeing this snake swim across Austin Strait between Middle and North Andaman Islands, while he was on a boat. When he took the boat closer, the snake apparently tried to climb into the boat. The snake is generally docile and only defends itself when necessary. Mainly feeds on other snakes. Females build a mound nest of dead leaves, lay around 24 eggs and stays with the eggs until they hatch. 3 nests in different localites were seen in Middle Andaman Islands, juveniles are seen the month of June. No bites are recorded from this species in Andamans. Grows up to 5.5m ( max. seen 3.5m in Andamans ).

Distribution - India : Andaman and Little Andaman Islands, also the Himalayan foothills, Western Ghats ( Karnataka, Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu ), some parts of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and the Northeast. Elsewhere : Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal all the way to the Philippines.

External link : http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Ophiophagus&species=hannah