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COBRA (Naja tripudians)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 613 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COBRA (Naja tripudians) , a poisonous Colubrine snake, belonging to the See also:family Elapidae, known also as the hooded snake, cobra di capello or naga. In this genus the anterior ribs are elongated, and by raising and bringing forward these, the See also:neck can be See also:expanded at will into a broad disk or See also:hood. It possesses two rows of See also:palatine See also:teeth in the upper See also:jaw, while the maxillary bones See also:bear the fangs, of which the anterior one only is in connexion with the See also:poison gland, the others in various stages of growth remaining loose in the surrounding flesh until the destruction of the poison See also:fang brings the one immediately behind to the front, which then gets anchylosed to the maxillary See also:bone, and into connexion with the gland secreting the poison, which in the cobra is about the See also:size of an See also:almond. Behind the poison fangs there are usually one or two See also:ordinary teeth. The cobra attains a length of nearly 6 ft. and a girth of about 6 in. The typical cobra is yellowish to dark-See also:brown, with a See also:black and See also:white spectacle-See also:mark on the back of the hood, and with a pair of large black and white spots on the corresponding under-See also:surface. There are, however, many varieties, in some of which the spectacle markings on the hood are wanting. The cobra may be regarded as nocturnal in its habits, being most active by See also:night, although not unfrequently found in See also:motion during the See also:day. It usually conceals itself under logs of See also:wood, in the See also:roofs of huts and in holes in old walls and ruins, where it is often come upon in- advertently, inflicting a See also:death See also:wound before it has been observed. It feeds on small quadrupeds, frogs, lizards, See also:insects and the eggs of birds, in See also:search of which it sometimes ascends trees. When seeking its See also:prey it glides slowly along the ground, holding the anterior third of its See also:body aloft, with its hood distended, on the alert for anything that may come in its way. " This attitude," says See also:Sir J.

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Fayrer, " is very striking, and few See also:objects are more calculated to inspire See also:awe than a large cobra when, with his hood erect, hissing loudly and his eyes glaring, he prepares to strike." It is said to drink large quantities of See also:water, although like See also:reptiles in See also:general it will live for many months without See also:food or drink. The cobra is oviparous; and its eggs, which are from 18 to 25 in number, are of a pure white See also:colour, somewhat resembling in size and See also:appearance the eggs of the See also:pigeon, but sometimes larger. These it leaves to be hatched by the See also:heat of the See also:sun. It is widely distributed, from Transcaspia to See also:China and to the See also:Malay Islands, and is found in all parts of See also:India, from See also:Ceylon to the Himalayas up to about 8000 ft. above the level of the See also:sea. Closely allied is N. haje, the See also:common hooded cobra of all See also:Africa, the See also:Spy-slange, i.e. spitting snake of the Boers. The cobra is justly regarded as one of the most deadly of the See also:Indian Thanatophidia. Many thousand deaths are caused annually by this unfortunately common See also:species, but it is difficult to obtain accurate See also:statistics. The bite of a vigorous cobra will often prove fatal in a few minutes, and as there is no practicable antidote to the poison, it is only in rare instances that such See also:mechanical expedients as cauterizing, constriction or amputation can be applied with sufficient promptitude to prevent the See also:virus from entering the circulation. Owing to a small See also:reward offered by the Indian See also:government for the See also:head of each poisonous snake, See also:great See also:numbers of cobras have been destroyed; but only See also:low-See also:caste See also:Hindus will engage in such See also:work, the cobra being regarded by the natives generally with superstitious reverence, as a divinity powerful to injure, and therefore to be propitiated; and thus oftentimes when found in their dwellings this snake is allowed to remain, and is fed and protected. " Should fear," says Sir J. Fayrer, " and perhaps the death of some inmate bitten by See also:accident, prove stronger than superstition, it may be caught, tenderly handled, and deported to some See also:field, where it is released and allowed to depart in See also:peace, not killed " (Thanatophidia of India). Great numbers, especially of See also:young cobras, are killed by the See also:adjutant birds and by the mungoos—a small mammal which attacks it with impunity, apparently not from want of susceptibility to the poison, but by its dexterity in eluding the bite of the cobra.

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Mere scratching or tearing does not appear to be sufficient to bring the poison from the glands; it is only when the fangs are firmly implanted by the jaws being pressed together that the virus enters the wound, and in those circumstances it has been shown by actual experiment that the mungoos, like all other warm-blooded animals, succumbs to the poison. In the See also:case of reptiles, the cobra poison takes effect much more slowly, while it has been proved to have no effect whatever on other venomous serpents. In the See also:Egyptian See also:hieroglyphics the cobra occurs constantly with the body erect and hood expanded; its name was ouro, which signifies " See also:king," and the See also:animal appears in See also:Greek literature as ouraios and basiliscus. With the Egyptian snake-charmers of the See also:present day the cobra is as great a favourite as with their See also:Hindu colleagues. They pretend to See also:change the snake into a See also:rod, and it appears that the supple snake is made stiff and rigid by a strong pressure upon its neck, and that the animal does not seem to suffer from this operation, but soon recovers from the cataleptic See also:fit into which it has been temporarily thrown. The cobra is the snake usually exhibited by the Indian jugglers, who show great dexterity in handling it, even when not deprived of its fangs. Usually, however, the front fang at least is extracted, the creature being thus rendered harmless until the succeeding tooth takes its See also:place, and in many cases all the fangs, with the germs behind, are removed—the cobra being thus rendered innocuous for See also:life. The snake charmer usually plays a few See also:simple notes on the See also:flute, and the cobra, apparently delighted, rears See also:half its length in the See also:air and sways its head and body about, keeping See also:time to the See also:music. The cobra, like almost all poisonous See also:snakes, is by no means aggressive, and when it gets timely warning of the approach of See also:man endeavours to get out of his way. It is only when trampled upon inadvertently, or otherwise irritated, that it attempts to use its fangs. It is a See also:good swimmer, often See also:crossing broad See also:rivers, and probably even narrow arms of the sea, for it has been met with at sea at least a See also:quarter of a mile from See also:land.

End of Article: COBRA (Naja tripudians)

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