Are the Kings you refer to the same as the ones Jim Corbett ran into in India? I remember one story where he walked up on one at a spring, and had a narrow escape as it came at him. That one sounded quite aggressive! There was a local name for them he used that is escaping me right now, started with an H I think...

My only experience with poisonous snakes has been Michigan rattlers (Massasauga sp.) which usually retire from the field, but occassionally stand their ground - all 20 inches of them. It sounds odd, but it kind of makes me proud of them, to see a tiny little snake trying to bluff a 230 pound human.

Snakegetter,

Wow, that is one incredibly beautiful cobra on your website. Do you have any shots that would do for Windows backgrounds?

I would love to keep snakes, maybe even hot ones, but my wife won't even let me keep a betta. Perhaps a good idea for me not to own snakes, when I really think about it.

Best,
Todd

Yes! That was the name. So are those the same as the Malaysian king cobras? Maybe Corbett had some fear of them, as he was such a conservationist in other areas, but always seemed to kill them when he found them.

Todd

There are different races of the King cobra but this is only relevant to the researcher.

The answer to your query is yes, same critter.

King cobras are less common now than they once were. There are a variety of reasons for this, commercialism being but one.

Even practicing conservationists are prone to the serpent phobia, especially in days gone by when ecological awareness was not what it is today.

While all snakes suffer the ramifications of such phobias, the King cobra is especially prone to instant termination upon chance encounter with a hunter. Think of it, not only does this particular snake travel sans legs, sans eyelids, sans external ears, it also has the habit of confronting its opponent by raising its body rather high off the ground, spreads a small hood, and proceeds to stare its enemy right in the eye with an unblinking glare. It'll parry and thrust while standing tall in order to frighten its adversary. And.... while its venom is certainly not the most toxic in the industry, the quantity delivered can be most impressive from a 12' and longer serpent!

Corbett's behaviour is not all that surprising given the nature of the snake and the prevalent mythology of the time.

And then the smaller cobra species will suffer a similar fate as their behaviour is similar thus relegating them to 'young' King cobra status.

Quite honestly, I'd rather dance with a King than some of the testier African species, especially those damned spitters. What inconsiderate elapids, eh?! If I'm photographing a spitter for any given length of time, I've discovered the efficacy of an underwater camera housing! Much easier to clean up afterwards....

~Holmes

Since Corbett's on the plate, read one of the intros to one of his books.

IIRC, it reads something like, I have 22lr, and I'm 12. I'm hunting birds, and, I turn the corner, and look UP at a full grown, male, bengal tiger. He roars, and I run like hell.

I learn later that roar is tiger for laughing...

Only by the grace of God, and that bengal Tiger, did Jim Corbett live to do all the things he did.

s

Well, I guess you could say that. About the same age I stuck my finger into a lamp, to see what electricity was about.

Perhaps the closest I came to death by wild animal, was at Marineland, on a Monday. I was 11, and got the great idea to sneak over to the killer whale tank, jump down onto the feeding platform, and look down. You guys think elephants look big, at 6 inches? Try looking down a
Male killer whale, or bull, average 5.8 to 6.7 m (19-22 ft.) and usually weigh between 3,628 and 5,442 kg (8,000-12,000 lb.). PLus, unlike elephants, they have NOTHING but teeth, and the mouth looks about the size of a jet engine at that range.

Anyway, at about a foot, I realized that he was expecting fish, and I didn't have any. The only food I had, was, well, me. This was on a deserted Monday afternoon, and no one was around. The platform was, maybe, 4-6 inches off the water, and I was eye ball to eyeball with him.

I vacated the premise, real quickly.

Guess compared to a full grown bengal tiger a 6 ton killer whale is in a different league. Glad he had manners, and restraint...

s
PS: I could mention surfing with great white sharks, and being chased out of the water at Point Sur, and, my friends close encounter with a killer whale at Steamer Lane, but those are other stories...

Well, can some of the experts here please tell my why my resident population of garter snakes are ALWAYS in pairs? I know these are rather boring non poisonous things and I welcome them but seriously, they are always in twos. I have lots of them.

I had an unfortunate accident today while mowing the lawn. I did not see one of these snakes and it was, well, pulverized. My mower has a bumper sticker on it that reads, "I brake for toads, frogs, snakes and turtles". The "mate" of this mowed snake slowly went into my iris bed. I felt horrible.

Anyway, these snakes are always in pairs. One is always much larger than the other. Some of you may remember my snake eye photo posted here awhile ago. It was one of my garden garters.