What kind of cobra spits venom? Red spitting cobra Naja pallida

Poisonous snakes are the most scary creatures on the ground. Many people think so, although this is not the correct opinion. However, they terrify people and animals. You might think that having this formidable weapon like poison, you will never go hungry, you will never be attacked. But anyone thinks so, but not the snakes themselves. Many of them know that before they can have lunch, they will have to wait for an hour for the victim, lurking in ambush. No, no matter how formidable the snake’s weapon is, it is not entirely reliable. Now, if only it were possible to send arrows to meet the enemy. For example, how the Indians do it. Reptiles do not have arrows, but some species of cobras can spit venom.

Among the venom-shooting snakes, the black-necked cobra (Naja nigricollis) is quite widespread on the African continent, the collared cobra (Hemachatus haemachatus) and the spitting cobra Indian cobra(Naja naja sputatrix). The poisonous teeth of these snakes are arranged somewhat differently than those of their counterparts, for example. The channel through which the poison is sprayed opens not at the very tip of the tooth, but rather far from it, apparently this is how it is convenient for them to spit.

In fact, snakes do not spit venom, because spitting involves mixing it with saliva, and these reptiles shoot venom directly from the canal opening in the tooth. Moreover, snakes shoot masterfully and at a very long distance - from two to four meters, aiming straight at the eye. If the poison gets into the eyes, nasal mucosa or mouth of a small animal, it dies. Can you imagine now how frightened the first travelers were when they came to Africa or southeast Asia, and faced with snakes spitting venom.

But not only snakes spit and not only poison. Toad-like or phrynosomes squirt with their own blood. Their main weapon is the head spike. With its help, lizards defend themselves from poisonous snakes and others small predators. In fact, they prefer not to bring the matter to a fight, but to scare off the enemy in advance. For this purpose, nature has endowed animals with an amazing adaptation. In a moment of danger, a special muscle compresses one of the large blood vessels. This leads to a sharp increase in blood pressure in the vessels of the head. The small vessels in the nictitating membrane of the eyes cannot stand it and burst, and blood splashes out directly from the eyes towards the enemy. An unexpected blood shower often causes the attacker to flee, and such weapons operate within a radius of approximately one and a half meters.

There are not many species of such snakes, and they are very dangerous; such snakes have the ability not only to inject poison when biting, but also, without biting, to deliver poison to the intended enemy from a distance.

Two species of venom-spitting cobras live in Africa and one in the Sunda Islands. The black-necked cobra inhabits the savannas of Africa, the collared cobra lives in southern Africa, and the Indian cobra lives on the island of Java, Tsebes and the Lesser Sunda Islands. These snakes are big strong species reaching a length of more than two meters. Poisonous snakes kill their prey with a bite of poisonous teeth, and shoot (spit) poison only for intimidation and defense from large animals or a random person encountered along the way.

Before releasing the venom, the cobra takes a position convenient for this. , so famous that it was included in a set of exercises to strengthen the yoga spine. An enemy approaching the snake can see how the cobra takes on its characteristic threatening pose.

Cobra pose - a third of the front part of the body raised up, an extended hood and cervical ribs spread out to the sides. At the same time, the head is in a horizontal position, the gaze closely follows the enemy. At the same time, the cobra makes a loud and angry hiss. If an animal approaches the cobra at 1.5-2.0 meters, it opens its mouth slightly and directs the finest streams of golden liquid into the eyes of the animal or even the approaching person with extraordinary accuracy.

This precise shot - the spit of a poisonous cobra confuses anyone who approaches it.

Cobras and some other snakes are also capable of releasing venom because they have poisonous teeth. special structure. The venom-conducting channel located inside the tooth comes out on its front surface and the hole is directed straight forward.

To direct the venom forward, the snake makes a sharp contraction of the temporal muscles and squeezes the venom out of the glands. The poison flies out with force from the holes of two poisonous teeth and after 0.5 meters merges into one stream, reaching the target.

Studies were carried out on the process of venom release in the black-necked cobra, and the entire process was described in detail by zoologist T. A. Freyfogel. The trachea closes at the moment of the shot, otherwise the result would not be a jet, but a spray of poison over a short distance. The contracting muscles create a pressure of up to 1.5 atm in the poisonous gland, and this is enough for the poison to fly up to two meters.

With each shot - spit, the snake releases from 35 mg to 6.8 mg of poison. In a state of particular rage, the snake can spray venom continuously up to 28 times, using more than 130 mg of venom.

One ejection of venom takes a cobra a few fractions of a second, everything happens at lightning speed. Therefore, the animal or person does not even have time to close their eyes, and the poison reaches its target.

If snake venom gets into your eyes, you can become completely blind. Of course, such a situation can happen extremely rarely, but the pygmy tribes use a primitive remedy for washing their eyes if a cobra spits poison at them. They use it to wash the eyes, as we say folk remedy- urine. Simply, without wasting time, they pour urine into the victim’s eyes, and then repeat this procedure several times over the course of several days. saves the victim from blindness.

The big brown spitting cobra is one of the most... large cobras, 2.74 meters long. This is the largest spitting snake.

External signs of a brown spitting cobra

The color of the covers differs in different shades brown. There are individuals of light gray and mustard color. The belly is light, sometimes with small streaks or spots, and the throat is dark brown.

There are 17 - 25 median rows of scutes running along the body. The black-necked cobra is smaller, up to 1.5 meters.

Spitting cobras live in Asia. The great brown and black-necked spitting cobra species are found in Africa. They are capable of spitting poison, hitting the enemy's eyes at a distance of 60 centimeters with incredible accuracy.

The venom of spitting cobras is delivered through curved channels in the teeth that open outward on the front surface of the tooth, and the toxin exit holes are round and located close to the base of the tooth. In this case, the poison is easily “shot” forward.

At the same time, the snake sharply compresses the poisonous glands with special muscles. The spitting cobras include the species - large brown spitting cobra, black and white cobra, collared cobra, black-necked cobra, red spitting cobra.

The Central Asian cobra also “shoots” poison, but toxic substance erupts through a hole in the lower jaw, from where the tongue protrudes.

Feeding spitting cobras

Spitting cobras feed on toads, lizards, and frogs. They hunt birds, small rodents, small snakes and even the most poisonous snakes - adders and kraits.

Spitting cobras inject powerful venom into the victim's body. They sink their teeth into the prey and do not immediately release it; in this case, effective insertion occurs toxic substance and rapid immobilization of the victim.

How do cobras spit?

How do cobras spit, and what explains the sniper’s accuracy in hitting the victim’s eyes? But during the study, it was found that snakes are not capable of spitting poison; they eject the toxic substance in thin streams from the holes of their poisonous teeth during a sharp muscle contraction. Bruce Young, an employee at the University of Massachusetts, risked his life to conduct experiments with spitting cobras.

The scientist provoked the snakes to attack, and a special device mounted on the head and connected to a computer made it possible to observe the movements of the cobra.

To prevent the poison from getting into the experimenter's eyes, they were protected with special glasses. The movements of the spitting cobra were filmed with a video camera. It took more than 100 spits to understand how the cobra's reaction to its prey reaches amazing accuracy. A spitting cobra releases venom 200 milliseconds ahead of time to the desired point where the victim's eyes will appear after such a minimum time. It’s just that the snake manages to get ahead of the movement of its prey.

In addition, before releasing venom, a spitting cobra begins to rotate its head, contracting its muscles and releasing a toxic substance. The poison is sprayed as an aerosol in the form of a cloud and necessarily affects both eyes.

High-speed filming during the study and electromyography of the snake’s muscles confirmed that this method of “spitting” venom maximizes the likelihood of a hit. On the other hand, the toxic substance is not wasted, but ends up in the victim.

Spitting cobras are deadly poisonous snakes

Spitting cobras shoot venom into their eyes to blind their prey. In addition, the toxic substance causes severe pain.

For people, the venom of any type of cobra is dangerous; its degree of effect on the body varies.

The toxic secretions of the Central Asian cobra are weaker; death from its bite in the absence of an antidote occurs within a few hours or even days. I king cobra s is highly effective and leads to the death of a person in 30 minutes.

Reproduction of spitting cobras

Spitting cobras mate in January–February. There are usually 6-15 eggs in a clutch. In April or May, the female lays eggs in cracks in the soil, in the free space between stones, in heaps of grass or leaves. The female does not leave the clutch and guards. Female Indian and king cobras make a special nest. In this case, reptiles collect plant debris in a heap with the front part of their body, then lay eggs. Males and females protect the clutch from predators until the offspring appear.

During the breeding season, reptiles are very aggressive and will attack any creature that approaches the nest. Young spitting cobras initially hunt small prey. Their body produces too little poison. Young cobras have striped skin coloration.

Keeping spitting cobras in captivity

Brown spitting cobras are adapted to survive in captivity. For keeping it is better to take reptiles not from environment, and buy breeding young cobras. Their color is yellow, but they are not infected. In addition, young snakes adapt faster and have a small hood.

The terrarium is selected with dimensions of 120 x 50 x 50 centimeters. The temperature is set at about 25-280C, the maximum reptiles can withstand in nature is 34-380C. A mixture of river sand and peat is used as a substrate.

For decoration, pieces of sandstone, tree cuts, indoor plants in pots. Water is provided in a small drinking bowl.

The female lays 6 - 15 eggs in early summer. A box with vermiculite is installed in the terrarium for propagation. Eggs develop at a temperature of 28 - 30 degrees C and 80% humidity. At low humidity, the eggs are sprayed with water. After 2 months, young snakes appear.

Cubs molt for the first time at the age of 9 - 12 days. Then the snakes can be fed. In captivity, food is limited to small rats and mice. You can give young locusts.

IN winter time The amount of food is limited because digestion in reptiles slows down in cold weather. Fans of exotic reptiles should know that brown cobras are venomous, insidious snakes. When keeping this species, you should always wear a protective mask to protect against poison from spitting!

Conservation status of the great brown cobra

The big brown cobra is facing extinction. This species of reptile lives in the coastal regions of Kenya, where the territories in which the snake lives are intensively developed. At the same time, people simply physically exterminate cobras, leaving no chance of survival.

Too much fear of venomous snakes interferes with intelligent action. And experts know that a large brown cobra is a supplier of valuable snake venom. At one time, 6.2 milliliters of a toxic substance weighing 7.1 grams is taken from the cobra. It is used to prepare medicines.

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COBRA COBRA (Hemachatus haemachatus) is very close to real cobras, but it stands out as a special genus due to some important characteristics. The main difference is that it does not have any teeth on its upper jaw behind its poisonous fangs (real cobras have them! - 3 small teeth). A medium-sized snake, about 1.5 m, has a grayish upper body, along which intermittent oblique transverse stripes are scattered. Very dark snakes are often found. Unlike true cobras, the collared cobra does not lay eggs but gives birth to live young.

Description

Regardless of its name, the collared cobra remains a very dangerous venomous snake. Her average length about one and a half meters. The upper body has a grayish tint, along which oblique transverse intermittent stripes run. However, sometimes there are also quite dark individuals. In any case, the head of this cobra is always black, and the neck below is also black. The head itself is short and pointed, with large black eyes. Further along the belly there are several black and white wide transverse stripes, which are clearly visible at those moments when the cobra takes a threatening pose. Like a real cobra, it spreads its cervical ribs to the sides, expanding its neck. However, its hood is narrower than that of a real cobra.
When in danger, this cobra inflates its hood, raising its upper body.
It belongs to the so-called “spitting” cobras - due to its ability to throw poison at a distance of up to 2 meters. By sharply contracting the temporal muscles, the snake creates a pressure of up to one and a half atmospheres in the poisonous gland, and the poison is sprayed out in two thin streams, merging into one at a distance of half a meter. Moreover, they usually aim at the eyes, sometimes, however, being deceived by the shiny buttons on their clothes. But their accuracy does not suffer from this - from a distance of about 60 cm, any individual of this species can hit its target with one hundred percent accuracy. And the maximum impact range is about two meters. Moreover, the poison is not sprayed pointwise, but according to a certain geometric sequence, which allows you to hit the victim as accurately as possible.
The collared cobra is very close to real cobras, but it was not accidentally identified as a special genus. Primarily because behind the poisonous fangs on the upper jaw they have no teeth at all (for example, a real cobra has three small teeth). The fangs themselves are directed forward.
Cobras tense their head and neck muscles moments before spitting. They then squirt the venom forward while the head and neck muscles perform rapid head oscillations that disperse the venom. This is how a complex pattern of venom droplets is formed, increasing the likelihood of poison getting into the victim's eyes. Collared cobras don't even need to aim straight for the eyes. They just need to choose the right direction.
Their poison is strong enough to cause blindness if it comes into contact with the eyes of mammals, including humans. A similar reaction is probably to a greater extent serves for protection rather than to destroy prey, although they also use poison when obtaining food.
Its venom is neurotoxic, so its attack causes terrible pain and can cause blindness if it gets into the eyes. In case of a bite, the area around this place becomes red and swollen, hematomas and necrosis are possible.
In addition to active defense, the collared cobra can also use passive techniques, just like some colubrid snakes. She plays dead by rolling over onto her back. At the same time, it relaxes the muscles so much that it becomes soft, opens the mouth and sticks out the tongue.

Habitat

The collared cobra lives in South Africa. Predominantly found in the South Eastern and Southern Cape, Lesotho, Orange Province, KwaZulu-Natal, Transkei, South Eastern Transvaal and Swaziland. Sometimes you can meet this species on the borders of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It chooses grass meadows for its habitat, although it can adapt to living at sea level and even above it. She can be found basking in the sun, although she still prefers night look life.

Reproduction

Unlike other cobras, the collared cobra is not an oviparous snake, but a viviparous one. IN natural conditions Cobras are seasonal snakes: in July, the female lays 9-19 eggs, from which the young emerge in late August - early September. On average, the brood size is from 20 to 30 individuals. Newborn cobras are already quite large, the average size of a baby is 15-18 cm in length. Within an hour after birth, young individuals change their skin. Newborn collared cobras have the same coloring as adults, including distinct stripes around their necks. In the same way, from birth they are capable of spitting poison.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia (reptiles)
Order: Squamata (scaly)
Suborder: Serpentes (snakes)
Family: Elipidae (slates)
Genus: Hemachatus (collared cobras)
Species: Hemachatus haemachatus (collared cobra)

Nutrition

The main diet of the collared cobra in nature consists mainly of toads, but if there are few of them, the cobra hunts small mammals, birds, insects, frogs and even other reptiles. Like other adders, cobras readily eat snakes, including poisonous ones. She obtains food with the help of poisonous spitting, spraying poison with amazing accuracy at a distance of up to 2 meters, and aims exclusively at the eyes of the victim.
In captivity, to maintain the health of your pet, you will have to feed food that is closest to what snakes eat in the wild. Collared cobras will not last long on insects alone, so they cannot do without live food. Toads, frogs, chickens and other chicks, rabbits, mice, rats, etc. are well suited as food for them. Additional types of insects that are used as food for the collared cobra are small reptiles, giant worms, grasshoppers, locusts, silkworms, and others. Many cobras prefer one type of food, which is their staple diet - toads and frogs, while other foods can be used to diversify the diet.
Live food must be fresh and well-groomed, because the quality of food digestion and the health of the snake depend on this.

Additionally

Due to the persistent fixation of morphological characteristics that provide the “spitting” mechanism, all spitting cobras develop characteristic behavior that precedes “spitting”: raising the body in a classic stance, raising only the head, opening the mouth slightly, the act of throwing, etc. The cobra always threatens before attacking, this is what the ideas of Indian fakirs are based on. The standard set of body movements includes a threatening stance, inflating the hood and an angry hiss. If this does not work, a poison shot follows. But it's best not to let it happen collared cobra before biting or spitting, getting out of her way in time.
Prevention of bites comes down to one main rule - do not pester cobras. If you wander through their habitats, do not hide - the snake, sensing the approach of a person, will try to hide itself. Of course, if you find yourself near its nest, the snake will fight to the last, but usually the cobra will try to avoid an attack, making do with a demonstration of threat.
Spitting cobras are twice as dangerous as regular venomous snakes - they can not only bite, but also spray venom into the eyes of the victim. Contact of poison on the mucous membrane of the eye is very painful and can lead to the development of conjunctivitis, swelling of the eyelids and headache for several hours. If immediate treatment is not provided, corneal ulceration, uveitis and irreversible blindness occur.
Despite the fact that a cobra bite is one of the most painless among all snake bites (it is not for nothing that its venom is part of a powerful painkiller), when bitten by a collared cobra, quite severe pain, bleeding and local swelling are noted. Later, general symptoms of poisoning occur: drowsiness, nausea, occasionally vomiting, paresthesia and muscle weakness, but a pronounced neurological syndrome is described less frequently than with the bites of real cobras. Breathing becomes shallow and rare, falling blood pressure, a picture of heart failure develops. In severe cases, the victim dies within a couple of hours from paralysis of the respiratory center. Most deaths occur in the first day after the bite.
Most effective way treatment for a bite - immediate administration of Anticobra serum, subcutaneously or intramuscularly, and with rapid development of symptoms - intravenously. As a last resort, a polyvalent serum against the neurotoxic poisons of viper, efa and cobra is suitable. In this case, it is not necessary to inject the serum into the bite site, as it gives a general antitoxic effect.
In the next 5 minutes after the bite, you need to suck out the contents of the wound with your mouth or a blood suction cup. After suction, the wound must be treated with antiseptics, and then a sterile, non-pressure bandage must be applied.
In case of contact with eyes, rinse them immediately with water, then as quickly as possible with saline, and also apply 1.5% Neo-Cortef ointment three times a day for several days. When immediately treating the eyes, rinsing with the serum is not necessary.

Sources

http://www.zmeuga.ru
http://dic.academic.ru
http://www.rentokileesti.ee/ru
http://www.floranimal.ru
http://www.i-nature.ru
http://www.zapishi.net
http://www.infozoo.ru
http://big-snake.narod.ru/
http://myreptile.ru/

Other names

In Russian-language sources, the snake of the species Hemachatus haemachatus is called “Collared Cobra”, in English-language sources – “Ringhal”. In the snake's homeland, South Africa, it was called "spoo-slang" because of its tendency to "spit" venom. Some sources even contain the name “spitting cobra”, but this is incorrect, since in addition to the collared cobra (Hemachatus haemachatus), other types of cobras can spray venom, for example, the large brown spitting cobra (Naja ashei), the Indian spitting cobra cobra (Naja naja sputatrix) or black-necked cobra (Naja nigricollis).

Habitat

The collared cobra lives in South Africa, but it was most often seen in the Southern and South-Eastern Cape Province, Orange Province, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Transkei, South-Eastern Transvaal and Swaziland. Sometimes you can see this type of snake on the borders of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The collared cobra chooses grass meadows for its habitat, although it can adapt to living at sea level and even above it. She can be found basking in the sun, although she still prefers a nocturnal lifestyle.

Content

Keeping a poisonous snake at home, especially a spitting cobra, is a very dangerous and difficult task. We strongly do not recommend keeping such a pet in a home terrarium, because even experienced herpetologists usually do not risk having poisonous snakes at home. Their maintenance requires special conditions: a separate empty room without cracks, a durable terrarium with built-in equipment (UV lamps, thermometers, hygrometers, etc.), special tools (hooks, tongs, fixing sticks, tweezers), a mask for protection eyes, plexiglass shields and gloves. If you still decide to get a collared cobra, you should always have Anti-Cobra serum on hand, or, at worst, a polyvalent serum against the neurotoxic poisons of viper, efa and cobra.

Health to you and your pets!

A spitting cobra behaves like a basketball player when it spits.

Spitting Cobras

These venomous cobras live in savannas and forested areas of Africa and South Asia. They are quite large and can reach a length of 3 m. They behave nobly, feeding mainly on non-poisonous colubrids or their relatives - cobras of other species. And only occasionally they diversify the diet with large lizards.

Blind the enemy to escape

Spitting cobras are known for their peculiar defense mechanism. If they are attacked by an enemy too large to eat, they spit a stream of poison at it. The spitting range reaches 2 m. The target of snakes is quite specific - the eyes of the offender. And they reach it with amazing accuracy even from such a great distance.

Cobra venom is a complex mixture of toxic polypeptides, enzymes and proteins with specific biological properties. The most toxic polypeptides are neurotoxin I and neurotoxin II, which cause paralysis of the skeletal and respiratory muscles. If it gets into the eyes, the poison causes sudden and unbearable pain, leading to blindness. Only then, having penetrated through the eyeball into the blood, the poison causes systemic disturbances in the functioning of the body. Fortunately, they are usually not fatal.

Accurate aim in both eyes at once

As a result scientific research Several observations have been made.

As soon as a person changes the position of his head, the cobra follows him. If the person stops moving, the snake still continues to move its head from side to side. According to the scientist, these movements were reminiscent of the actions of a basketball player who is trying to confuse and confuse the opponent before throwing the ball into the basket.

Then, a second before releasing the venom, the snake begins to rotate its head using the muscles of the head and neck and continues to move, releasing the liquid. Accordingly, the poison is sprayed in the form of intersecting ellipses, most likely hitting the enemy’s face, and in both eyes at once.

The experiment also showed that the cobra does not release its venom as a stream, but rather as a spray. Special muscles compress salivary glands in such a way that the stream of poison turns into a spray. Moreover, these muscles work with such force that the spray can rise to a height of up to 2 m, that is, approximately the height of the enemy’s eyes.