An Indian Forest Service employee this week shared an image showing a large snake pausing in a clearing with its head and neck raised in a classic cobra posture.
Parveen Kaswan stated via X: “This beauty. Let’s see who can guess the species.”
Responses quickly formed an overwhelming consensus that the snake in question was, as one commenter remarked, “The King himself.”
King cobras, which can measure 15-plus feet, are the longest venomous snakes on earth. They inhabit rainforests and plains in northern India, southern China, and Southeast Asia.
(Click here to view Kaswan’s post on X.)
Although rarely encountered, king cobras are revered in India, where they’re considered the national reptile.
They’re not typically aggressive toward humans, choosing to escape rather than bite in most cases. But a king cobra bite, if not treated immediately, can kill a person in less than 30 minutes.
Kaswan, at the time of this post, had not provided details regarding the sighting. Nor had he responded to comments beneath his X post.
One follower, referring to a recent study that suggests there are four types of king cobras in India, commented:
“It’s now established as 4 different species in different ranges. Assuming this is in northern India, it’s Ophiophagus hannah. If it were from the Western Ghats, it’d be Ophiophagus kaalinga, based on the recent classification.”
Another follower observed: “The Most Mythical of Serpents. The One who Straddles Terrestrial Earth & Heavenly Divinity.The Companion to Lord Shiva. Worshipped & Feared in equal measure by Man.”
A man claiming to be a physician remarked, “We are not left with much to do when a patient is brought to us after it has bitten them.”
Another follower stated that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, directing his comment to Kaswan: “Sir, you call every snake a beauty, but for a common man, it’s scary.”
This article originally appeared on For The Win: No mistaking fabled ‘king’ after close encounter in India
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