VIDEO: Mongoose vs. King Cobra

The video below shows a brave mongoose taking on a cobra!

There are constant battles in the wild.

Animals have gotten used to fighting for territory, for food and for supremacy.

After all, it’s survival of the fittest out there!

According to Live Science, cobras, with their threatening hoods and intimidating upright postures, are some of the most iconic snakes on Earth. Their elegance, prideful stance and venomous bite have made them both respected and feared.

“Cobras occur throughout Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia,” said Sara Viernum, a herpetologist based in Madison, Wisconsin. The word comes from the Portuguese cobra de capello, which means “hooded snake.”

There is some disagreement about what exactly a cobra is, and the number of cobra species ranges from 28 to about 270 depending on how a cobra is defined. Genetically, “true” cobras are members of the genus Naja, but often “the name cobra references several species of snakes, most of which are in the venomous snake family Elapidae.

Elpididae includes other snakes like coral snakes, kraits and mambas.” Many of these snakes either possess hoods or the ability to raise the upper part of their body.

Cobras are Elapids, a type of poisonous snake with hollow fangs fixed to the top jaw at the front of the mouth. These snakes cannot hold their fangs down on prey so they inject venom through their fangs. They have an excellent sense of smell and night vision. In addition to their trademark hoods, cobras have round pupils and smooth scales.

Colors vary widely from species to species. There are red, yellow, black, mottled, banded and many other colors and patterns of cobra.

Cobras are large snakes; many species reach more than 6 feet long (2 meters). The forest cobra is the largest true cobra, reaching 10 feet (3 m), and Ashe’s spitting cobra is 9 feet (2.7 m), making it the world’s largest spitting cobra. The smallest species is the Mozambique spitting cobra, which is about 4 feet long (1.2 m). King cobras, the longest of all venomous snakes, can reach 18 feet (5.5 m).

“The most well-known distinctive physical characteristic of cobras is their hood,” said Viernum. “Hooding occurs when the snake spreads out its neck ribs forming a flattened, widened section of its body near the head.” This creates a stunning, and threatening, spectacle.

According to “Cobras” by Sylvia A. Johnson (Lerner, 2006), cobras typically live in hot, tropical areas but are also found in savannahs, grasslands, forests and farming areas in Africa and Southern Asia. They like to spend time underground, under rocks and in trees.

“The most distinctive behavioral characteristics of cobras are their defensive displays,” said Viernum. “These include hooding, hissing, and raising the upper portion of their bodies to stand erect. Most cobras can stand as tall as a third of their body length.”

Cobras reproduce by laying eggs. Females typically lay 20 to 40 eggs at a time, which incubate between 60 and 80 days. They will stay near the eggs and defend them until they hatch. Wild boars and mongooses are known to steal cobra eggs.