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Feared, Revered King Cobras
Step into the world of writers and photographers as they tell you about the best, worst, and quirkiest places and adventures they encountered in the field.
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Get the facts behind the frame in this online-only gallery. Pick an image and see the photographer’s technical notes.
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Where Cobras Are King
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By Mattias Klum
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Capable of killing an elephant, these shy Asian forest dwellers have become entwined with some unflappable humans.
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Get a taste of what awaits you in print from this compelling excerpt.
As if lit from within, the mist-drenched rain forest of Borneo’s Danum Valley awakens with me before sunrise. Somewhere below stirs the king cobra—the inspiration for my journey to the villages and forests of Southeast Asia. The longest venomous snake, it produces startling amounts of neurotoxin—enough to kill an elephant with a single bite. But this serpent that can stand up like a man in a terrifying pose is shy and retreating, aggressive only if provoked. We know little about its populations, but fragmented forests and illegal wildlife trade may be putting it at risk. Though snakes strike fear in many Westerners, in the East the cobra is often an object of worship and reverence—and, in some places, a part of peoples’ livelihoods. So I have come here to pay my respects to Ophiophagus hannah, with hopes that I might observe this king of snakes in its natural realm.
Once fearful of all that slithered in their wild, brimming forests, the villagers of Ban Khok Sa-nga for decades made use of venomous snakes by killing and eating them. Today locals, who rely on rice cultivation and a diminishing supply of wood, bring in much needed income by entertaining with, rather than stir-frying, the deadly king cobra. Waving and yelling “King cobra!” in Thai and English, roving shills enticed me and other passersby into a small building where, for 10 baht (about 25 cents), we watched the ladies of the King Cobra Club dance holding snakes’ heads in their mouths (below). No one could tell me the origins of the performance, but it makes economic sense—and sends chills through an uninitiated crowd.
A man for whom cobras are family, village elder Komchai Pimsaimoon has spent years learning the rhythms of the serpent—what calms it and what makes it fighting mad. Mad was in force back at the boxing ring, where a now rested king whipped toward me on release from its wooden enclosure. Though I managed to skirt its strike, I took some comfort knowing I had cobra antivenom in my pack. Locals assured me that their herbal remedy was also on hand—just in case mine failed to work.
Get the whole story in the pages of National Geographic magazine.
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VIDEO Mattias Klum talks about getting cautiously cozy with king cobras. Click Here
AUDIO (recommended for low-speed connections)
RealPlayer WinMedia
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The one that got away from our coverage of king cobras is this month’s Final Edit.
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A snake charmer kisses a king cobra and lives to tell about it.
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| In More to Explore the National Geographic magazine team shares some of its best sources and other information. Special thanks to the Research Division. |
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When a king cobra strikes, it does not always inject venom. King cobras have a maximum quantity of 450 milligrams (.014 ounces) of venom. When they strike, they can inject most of that quantity or none. That is why some bites in humans result in no symptoms whereas other bites can result in death in less than 30 minutes.
—Jennifer L. Fox
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Cobra Information Site
www.cobras.org
An exhaustive site, covering everything you wanted to know about King Cobras and related species.
Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute
www.redcross.or.th/science/science/index.html
Learn more about venomous snakes in Thailand and how the Thai Red Cross makes antivenoms for them.
Klum Photography
www.klumphotography.com
Visit photographer Mattias Klum’s website and view photographs in his virtual gallery.
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Das, Indraneil. “King Cobra: Spirit of Earth and Water.” Reptiles Magazine (April 2000), 32-37.
Enrst, Carl H., and George R. Zug. Snakes in Question. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996.
Minton, Sherman A., and Madge Rutherford Minton. Venomous Reptiles. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1969.
Nissenson, Marilyn, and Susan Jonas. Snake Charm. Harry N. Adams, Inc., 1995.
Phelps, Tony. Poisonous Snakes. Blandford Press, 1989.
Sharma, Budh Dev, ed. Snakes in India: A Source Book. Asiatic Publishing House, 1998.
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Banks, Joan Brix. “Great Snakes,” World (March 1996), 2-7.
“Charming the Deadly Cobra,” World (September 1975), 28-30.
Miller, Harry. “The Cobra, India’s ‘Good Snake,’ National Geographic (September 1970), 392-409.
Gilliard, E. Thomas. “Coronation in Katmandu: The Pageantry of Marco Polo’s Asia Comes Alive Once Again as a New King of Nepal Ascends the Cobra Throne,” National Geographic (July 1957), 138-152.
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