King Cobra

The king cobra is the world's longest venomous snake and among the heaviest. Adults average 3.18 to 4m, and the longest known individual measured 5.85m. The skin is olive green with black and white bands on the trunk that converge towards the head, though colour varies from black with white stripes to unbroken brownish grey. It is not a true cobra, and is now regarded as a species complex that may be split into several species (Wikipedia, general species account).

It occurs at elevations up to about 2,000m, from the Terai in India and southern Nepal east to Bhutan and Southeast Asia. It chiefly hunts other snakes, including its own kind, with lizards and rodents occasional prey. It is diurnal, though seen at night occasionally. It is the only snake that builds an above-ground nest for its eggs, which the female guards through incubation. Males are larger and paler.