cape cobra

Prior to this sighting, the species has been reported from Gangtok 1700m in 1923 and was believed to be limited to the tropical forests of Sikkim Himalaya <1250m (Gammie 1928). The species has also been reported from the Teesta Valley, Sikkim at elevations <500m (Chettri  & Bhupathy 2007; Chettri et al. 2008). The highest known altitude record for King Cobra in the entire northeastern India was 1700m at Khonoma, Nagaland (Das et al. 2008). Temperate forests of the eastern Himalaya have never been reported as a habitat for the King Cobra as they were in higher altitudes characterized by cold climatic conditions (Ahmed et al. 2009).

There have been very few herpetofaunal surveys in this region as evident from the record of the King Cobra after a gap of 82 years from Sikkim (Gammie 1928; Chettri  & Bhupathy 2007; Chettri et al. 2008). Lack of awareness among the local people could also be a disadvantage for the conservation of this species as its status and distribution has not been fully documented. Therefore, we recommend that dedicated surveys be carried out in all four districts of Sikkim to ascertain the present distribution limits and conservation status of the King Cobra and other species of herpetofauna as initiated by Chettri et al. (2008, 2010); and awareness programmes for the local communities to enable them understand the significance of this species and conservation importance of other herpetofauna. This new record of King Cobra in temperate forests and at higher altitudes requires further research.