Cobra Snake Facts: Venom, Hunting, and Surprising Medical Uses

The cobra is one of the most venomous snakes in the world, belonging to the family of elapids. It is found in tropical and desert regions across Asia and Africa.

Cobra species range in color from black or dark brown to yellow or cream, and sometimes even reddish. Most species measure between 1.5 and 3 meters in length, but the largest king cobra, can grow to more than 5 meters.

A Predator Built for Venom

As a predator, the cobra lacks many organs one might expect. It has no legs to chase prey, no claws to grab, and no hands to hold the animals it feeds on. However, these disadvantages are more than compensated for as nature has armed the cobra with the ultimate weapon — venom, in massive quantities.

The cobra is the largest venomous snake on earth, and its venom is so powerful that it can kill an elephant with a single bite. This venom is deadly to both small and large animals, including humans.

Why would a snake need such an extreme weapon? Cobras feed on other snakes and being that many snakes have natural resistance to venom, the cobra must produce large amounts of extremely potent venom to overpower them. It takes much more venom to kill a snake than to kill a mammal.

The Science of Venom

Recent discoveries show that cobra venom is made from compounds already found in its body for other purposes. These building blocks exist naturally in the liver, digestive system, and other organs. To produce venom, the cobra simply redirects these compounds into its salivary glands, where they are secreted in the right proportions, refined, and transformed into lethal venom.

Hunting and Defense

When threatened, a cobra raises the front part of its body and spreads a loose flap of skin on either side of its neck to create its iconic hood, an intimidating warning display.

Cobras feed on rodents, reptiles (including snakes), birds, and eggs. After striking, they often allow the prey to run, since the exertion spreads venom faster through the victim’s body. With its highly developed sense of smell, the cobra easily tracks the animal until it collapses.

Cobras themselves have enemies, including mongooses and birds of prey. When attacked, some cobras spit venom several meters with stunning accuracy, aiming for the predator’s eyes to blind it and escape.

The Perfect Syringe

Like all venomous snakes, cobras have specialized fangs to inject venom. In elapids like cobras, venom drips down the front fangs, while vipers use an even more advanced system: long hollow fangs that fold back when not in use and spring forward during a strike, delivering venom deep into prey.

Interestingly, the danger of a snake is not determined solely by how toxic its venom is, but also by how it delivers it, how much it produces, and its behavior. For example, sea snakes are technically the most venomous snakes in the world, but they produce very small amounts of venom and are not aggressive, and fatalities are therefore rare. By contrast, the African puff adder has moderately toxic venom but produces it in huge quantities and has very long fangs, making it far more dangerous to humans.

Venom as Medicine

It seems almost impossible to imagine, but the very substances designed for killing can also save lives.

The first modern medicine derived from snake venom came in 1949 from the Brazilian pit viper (Bothrops jararaca). Its venom lowers blood pressure in prey, and today it forms the basis of an entire class of drugs used to treat hypertension in humans.

Another medical breakthrough came from the Malaysian pit viper. Its venom prevents blood from clotting, which in nature causes its prey to die from internal bleeding. In medicine, however, it has been adapted to treat patients at risk of dangerous blood clots.

Researchers are also exploring venom in the fight against cancer. Some types of venom target only certain cells, a property that could allow future drugs to attack tumors without harming healthy tissue which is a major drawback of conventional chemotherapy.

A Deadly Paradox

Each year, snakes kill hundreds or even thousands of people. Yet, paradoxically, their venom also holds the power to save countless lives.