cobra bite

Any cobra bite is life threatening and medical assistance is an immediate need.
Some of the symptoms that will be felt by the victim are dizziness and extreme muscle weakness, including the muscles that you would use to breathe.

The Snake charmers in India will use harmless tricks to woo spectators to their craft.
As the cobra begins to rise from its basket, it will sway, seemingly in time to the music that the charmer plays.

The cobra however, can’t hear. The snake charmer uses the cobra’s natural actions to make it appear that they are being charmed and impress the audience.
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It seems to me that anyone who has the nerve to handle a snake that can bite and kill you in less than half an hour has no need for additional methods to impress me.

What happens is that when the snake is taken from darkness to the light and open air, it rises up and spreads the hood, which is how it would react to a threat.

It will see the pipe being played and mistaking it for another swaying snake, will sway in time with it, to keep it in their line of vision, since cobras cannot swivel their eyes.

Cobra King Picture

Identification
The king cobra is the sole member of genus Ophiophagus, while most other cobras are members of the genus Naja. They can be distinguished from other cobras by size and hood marks. King cobras are larger than other cobras, and the stripe on the neck is like the symbol "^" instead of a double or single eye(s) shape that may be seen in most of the other cobras. A foolproof method of identification is if on the head, clearly visible, is the presence of a pair of large scales known as occipitals, at the back of the top of the head. These are behind the usual "nine-plate" arrangement typical of colubrids and elapids, and are unique to the king cobra.
Scalation
Dorsal scales: midbody 15 rows; Ventral scales: Males 235-250, females 239-265; Tail: Subcaudal scales single or paired in each row, 83-96 in males and 77-98 in females.
Habitat
The king cobra is distributed across South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the southern areas of East Asia (southern China) where it is not common. It lives in dense highland forests, preferring areas dotted with lakes and streams. King cobra populations have dropped in some areas of its range because of the destruction of forests. It is listed as an Appendix II Animal within CITES.Behavior
King cobras, like other snakes, receive chemical information ("smell") via their forked tongues, which pick up scent particles and transfer them to a special sensory receptor (Jacobson's organ) located in the roof of its mouth. When the scent of a meal is detected, the snake flicks its tongue to gauge the prey's location (the twin forks of the tongue acting in stereo); it also uses its keen eyesight (king cobras are able to detect moving prey almost 100 m [300 feet] away), intelligence and sensitivity to earth-borne vibration to track its prey. Following envenomation, the king cobra will begin to swallow its struggling prey while its toxins begin the digestion of its victim. King cobras, like all snakes, have flexible jaws. The jaw bones are connected by pliable ligaments, enabling the lower jaw bones to move independently, enabling the King cobra to swallow its prey whole. The expansion of the jaw enables the snake to swallow prey much larger than its head.

Cobra Information Page

Cobra is the common name for members of the family of venomous snakes, Elapidae, known for their intimidating looks and deadly bite. Cobras are recognized by the hoods that they flare when angry or disturbed; the hoods are created by the extension of the ribs behind the cobras' heads. These reptiles are found throughout the Philippines, southern Asia, and Africa. The king cobra is the world's longest venomous snake. The king cobra, or hamadryad, holds the record length of 24 ft. for a venomous snake! The king cobra is unique among snakes in that it makes a nest for its eggs, scraping up leaves and other debris in which to deposit them, and remains in the nest until the young hatch. It averages 3.7 m (12 ft) in length but is known to grow to 5.5 m (18 ft). It is a thin snake, olive or brown in color, with bronze eyes. It is found in the Philippines, Malaysia, southern China, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula. The other cobra of Asia is known variously as the common, Asian, Indian, or spectacled cobra (due to the eyeglass-shaped pattern on its skin). It seldom reaches a length of more than 1.8 m (6 ft). The hood of the Asian cobra is, proportionately, much larger than that of the king cobra and is usually yellow to brown, with a black-and-white spectacle pattern on top and two black and white spots on the lower surface. This snake causes thousands of deaths each year in India, where it is regarded with religious awe and are seldom killed. It ranges from the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea to China and Malaysia. Most cobras are natives of Africa. Among them is the spitting, or black-necked cobra, found from southern Egypt to northern South Africa. This snake can spray its venom from a distance of about 2.4 (about 8 ft) accurately. Varieties of the spitting cobra range in color from dull black to pink, the lighter-colored ones marked by a black band around the neck. The ringhals, a different type of spitting cobra confined to southern Africa, is the smallest of the cobras, reaching only about 1.2 m (about 4 ft) in length. It is dark brown or black with ridged, or keeled, scales and light rings on the neck. The asp, or Egyptian cobra is widely distributed throughout Africa, being the most common. Contrary to folklore, cobras will seldom attack unprovoked. When threatened, however, the Cobra will make full use of its deadly force. Cobras are famous for their use by snake charmers because they respond well to visual cues, and are of spectacular appearance.

cobra bite

 Update: This snake was actually discovered by Roygan Taylor working for Bio-Ken in Kenya. He has his own fantastic blog, which in addition to providing a lot of fascinating information about the enormous snake in question, covers all sorts of other interesting snake related issues in Africa. Check it out here http://www.wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/savingsnakes

Researchers have identified a new species of spitting cobra in Kenya, one that is over nine feet long and has enough venom to “kill twenty people” according to an “expert” on the subject in this article on nationalgeographic.com.