OPERATION SINDOOR-2 TRUCE ACHIEVED-- BY SARASIJ MAJUMDER

NATIONAL SYMBOLS: INDIA
National Reptile: The king Cobra
SARASIJ MAJUMDER
Today, I will discuss about KING COBRA. Mythology, and
misconception are also attached to it.
The king cobra (Ophiophagus Hannah) is a highly venomous
snake endemic to Asia. The sole member of the genus Ophiophagus, it is not
taxonomically a true cobra, despite its common name and some
resemblance. With an average length of 3.6 m (12 ft)
and a record length of 5.85 m (19.2 ft), it is the world's longest highly
venomous snake.
It is normally dark, deep greyish in colour, with biggest HOOD, and it closely resembles Cobra.
The king cobra has an eminent position in the mythology and folklore of
India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar. It is also called ‘NAGA’ and found at
the neck of ‘Lord Shiva’. Some tribal people worship this particular species of Snake as their 'GOD'.
The king cobra is an apex
predator and dominant over all other snakes except large Pythons. It lives mainly on Snakes, Lizards, Rats, all types of Frogs, Rabbits, Birds etc.
But, its favourite food is Snakes.
They can live about 20 years in the wild.
It is not yet ‘endangered, but Vulnerable’ species.
Once I saw it to catch, and eat fish, from the bank of large
waterbody, which was part of our erstwhile very big farmhouse, where we stayed, at DUM DUM, sold long back, after I graduated.
I lived, and spent my childhood there. I
enjoyed every minute of my living there.
But—‘..ES IST SO LANGE, HERR..’
King Cobra can climb trees, mainly to hunt Bird, Birds’
eggs, and Birdlings..
It is considered diurnal, because, though it hunts mostly during the day, but has also
been seen preying at night, albeit, rarely. Must be very Hungry then!
It has best eyesight amongst Snakes—can identify moving
objects almost up to 100 meters.
The hiss of the king cobra is much of lower pitch than many
other snakes and many people thus identify its call to a "growl" rather than a
hiss. Closer to 650 Hz.
It’s natural habitat is thick bush close to waterbody.
It is otherwise of gentle nature—nonaggressive, mostly slinks
off when disturbed . But, it becomes very ferocious, when it protects it’s eggs, or if seriously threatened. And, even then—near
50% strikes are BLANK. But, if it injects VENOM, amount is 6+ c.c.—that is a very large quantity, extremely neurotoxic, and
lethal. The person will die in about 30 minutes time. Needs antivenom very
soon.
In USA, two types of Neurological Drugs are made from its
poison. One is to relieve pain in severe Arthritis. Since 1930s, it’s
venom has been used to treat various diseases like asthma, polio, multiple
sclerosis, rheumatism, severe pain and trigeminal neuralgia. Among
antimicrobial components that have been isolated from snake venom are (i)
L-amino acid oxidase (LAAO), and (ii) phospholipase A2 (PLA2).
I spent sometime in studying 'HARPETOLOGY', and visited several times a 'SNAKE FARM' , close to Calcutta, developed, and established by a friend of mine, while I worked in DSP. He used to rent Snakes for 'Shooting', and sold snake venoms to one Pharmaceutical Company. And I have seen King Cobra couple of times.
And I agree that whoever selected this Serpent as National Reptile, selected 'THE BEST' in the specieses.It is really 'KING' amongst serpents.
REFERENCES:-
IMAGES:-
National Symbol—from Google.
KING COBRA: By Michael Allen Smith from Seattle, USA - 12 - The Mystical King Cobra and Coffee Forests, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25482569
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