📸 PhotoPhoto: Saleem Hameed · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Spectacled Cobra
Naja naja (Spectacled Cobra · インドコブラ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A maximum length of 2.2 m is slightly longer than the height of a doorway (about 2 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 Animal Diversity Web notes that the Spectacled Cobra catches rats and mice that spread disease and eat human food, and its venom is a potential source of medicines such as anti-cancer drugs and painkillers.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Spectacled Cobra is a cobra with a wide black band on the underside of its neck and half-ring markings on the back of its spread hood.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body color varies from black and dark brown to cream, often covered with a white or yellow spectacled pattern. When threatened, it raises the front 1/3 of its body and spreads its long neck ribs and loose skin to form a wide hood.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It bites rodents, lizards, and frogs to paralyze them with venom before swallowing them whole, and sometimes enters buildings in search of rodents. The female lays 12–20 eggs in a hollow tree or underground and guards them; hatchlings emerge after about 50 days and can immediately spread their hoods and strike.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2021) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/62241/3110222
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 45KXG
- • iucnredlist.org — 3110222
- • wikidata.org — Q192754
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Cobra hood.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Naja naja
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — V. Deepak · CC BY 3.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Ophiophagus hannah)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.