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king cobra venom compared to others
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by thenewdisciple on December 20, 2004
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im curious, how venomous is a king cobra compared to the other cobras? i know that the king can obviously deliver alot more venom than any other cobra,
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RE: king cobra venom compared to others
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by Buzztail1 on December 20, 2004
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The following information is available at:
http://www.szgdocent.org/cc/c-cking.htm
The King Cobra is the largest venomous snake. Its venom is not as toxic as other cobras but it is dangerous to humans because it can inject a much larger amount of venom. Drop for drop, a King Cobra's venom is actually less lethal than a Common Cobra's. However, it injects as much as 6-7ml of venom per bite, enough to kill an elephant, or 20 people.
However, despite its size and reputation for ferocity, the King is not aggressive and actually prefers to flee where possible. It only attacks people when it is cornered, in self defence or to protect its eggs. Throughout its entire range from India to Indonesia, the King causes fewer than five human deaths a year, about one-fifth as many as caused by rattlers in North America. The King Cobra's fangs are short (8-10mm) because they are fixed.
Hope this answers your question,
Karl
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RE: king cobra venom compared to others
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by GREGLONGHURST on December 21, 2004
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That bit of info was pretty accurate. I had only two minor problems with it. Not your fault, either, Karl. First...what is a "common cobra" There are too darn many species & subspecies for that to sit well with me. Second...Five times five is twenty-five. Last I checked, we averaged a dozen or less fatalities to snakebite in the U.S., not 25 to Crotalus alone.
Merry Christmas, y'all! ~~Greg~~
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RE: king cobra venom compared to others
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by Snake17 on December 21, 2004
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I think the most toxic cobra is the Monocled Cobra(Naja kaouthia). I`m not 100% sure about this one but I know for sure that the most toxic african cobra is the cape cobra(Naja nivea). Cheers, Alex S.
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RE: king cobra venom compared to others
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by Snake17 on December 21, 2004
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...and...along with the Gaboon Viper(Bitis gabonica & Bitis rhinoceros), the King Brown Snake(Pseudechis australis), the king cobra(Ophiophagus sp.) has the largest venom yield. I`m sure this is not how it`s spelled but you get the picture. Peace...
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RE: king cobra venom compared to others
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by Buzztail1 on December 21, 2004
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Good calls on both accounts, Greg.
I was just cutting and pasting to answer the basic question.
As to which cobra has the most toxic venom...
Here is what the LD 50 charts at venomdoc.com say:
Type of bite - Type of cobra closest to the top of chart
Intramuscular - Naja nigricollis (Black Spitting Cobra)
Intraperitoneal - Walterinnesia aegyptia (Desert Cobra)
Intravenous - Naja melanoleuca (Black Forest Cobra)
Subcutaneous - Boulengeria christyi (Congo Water Cobra)
I think this might clearly point out that how dangerous each snake is depends on a large number of factors up to and including how the venom gets delivered.
Hope this helps,
Karl
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RE: king cobra venom compared to others
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by JRHarrison on December 21, 2004
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According to some other sources the most toxic Naja are Naja philippinensis and Naja nivea. LD50's can vary within the same species or even specimens.
Jim Harrison
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RE: king cobra venom compared to others
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by LarryDFishel on December 22, 2004
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Also note that the different LD-50 charts don't all contain the same species (some snakes were only tested by one or two methods, and maybe not by the same people).
As far as the math in Karl's cut/paste: Note the fudge factors of "less than five" (which means not more than 4 since you can't have 4.7 bites) and "about one fifth" (which means the original author was too lazy to look up the actual numbers).
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