The skin is either olive-green,tan or black and it has faint,pale yellow cross bands down the length of the body.The belly is cream or pale yellow, and the scales are smooth.The head of a mature snake can be quite massive and bulky in appearance,though like all snakes,they can expand their jaws to swallow large prey items.
It has proteroglyph dentition,meaning it has two short,fixed fangs in the front of the mouth which channel venom into the prey like hypodermic needles.The male is larger and thicker than the female. The average lifespan of a King Cobra is about 20 years.
Widespread,but not common,across South and South-east Asia.It lives in dense highland forests.The snake has a preference for living in areas dotted with lakes and streams.King Cobra populations have dropped in some areas of its range due to the destruction of forests,but despite this the snake is not listed by the IUCN as in danger of becoming extinct.
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