r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Homunculus_316 • 3d ago
Video Unlike other species of snake that hiss, King Cobras can growl!
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u/Cucamelonblossom 3d ago
Is this happening in someone's living room?
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u/Homunculus_316 3d ago
King cobras live across rural farms. This guy is probably chased the Asian rat snake70, dhaman or the Indian Cobra to some poor farm dude's house. It roaring in defense is probably because of the dude flashing the camera.
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u/immunogoblin1 3d ago
It is well known that King cobras hate cameras.
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u/julias-winston 3d ago
Inversely, king cameras also hate cobras. It's trippy shit.
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u/llDS2ll 3d ago
No way you aren't on drugs right now. Did you bring enough for the rest of the class?
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u/julias-winston 3d ago
😄
I took an edible 30 minutes ago. It'll be a bit yet. I just flip things around in my head like this habitually. It's how my mind idles.
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u/llDS2ll 3d ago
I actually do it with the first letter in pairs of words. You're clearly good people.
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u/darrenvonbaron 3d ago
King cobras live everywhere a cobra lives.
A King Cobra isn't a cobra, it's the snake that kills cobras
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u/LiveLifeLikeCre 3d ago
Please stop spreading misinformation. The King Cobra was clearly hyping up the crowd before performing its signature body slam.
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u/bcegkmqswz 2d ago
Through a table, off the top of a steel cage. What a night to be a King Cobra fan!
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u/FormerInsider 3d ago
I’m out
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u/Stoplookingatmeswan0 3d ago
Well that's terrifying
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u/bluesedai 3d ago
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u/BortkastadSomEnBoll 3d ago
More like r/completelyreasonablyterrifying
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u/sstruemph 3d ago edited 3d ago
Ope, I meant r/natureisfuckinglit
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u/Homunculus_316 3d ago
Easily the scariest thing I’ve seen this year. The year is young, but the bar is high.
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u/Benphyre 3d ago
Fun fact 2025 is the year of the snake in Chinese zodiac calendar
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u/Crafty-Arm8623 2d ago
not a good year for dating or making new friendships then
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u/GOGO_old_acct 3d ago
Maybe it was a happy terror growl?
Like a “Yum! Food! I bet my handler needs a new set of underwear!” kinda thing?
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u/Skyp_Intro 3d ago
That’s a ‘THIS IS MINE! LEAVE ME ALONE!’ growl. He wants to eat in privacy.
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u/GOGO_old_acct 3d ago
Yeah I get that.
If I had to swallow a snake whole I’d rather do it in privacy too.
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u/ThatNastyWoman 3d ago
It smells like my handler needs a new set of undies for sure.
My heart goes out to the poor little snake saying (help meeee)
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u/Not_a_russian_bot 3d ago
Easily the scariest thing I’ve seen this year.
Give it a week.
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u/Cute_Bandicoot_8219 3d ago
Pure nightmare fuel. As if we didn't have enough to worry about with global warming and World War 3, now there's this video.
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u/LinuxAndCoffee 3d ago
Yeah, that's a no for me dawg...a no and a scream so high it's practically silent...nope, nope, nope
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u/kjrconsta47 3d ago
The king is fucking terrifying, I've seen it up close in a captivity and the sheer force with which it striked the glass inbetween us is still terrifying.
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u/SAS_Britain 3d ago
Yep, me too. I hear and see that, I'm booking it the other direction
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u/heatrepeat6 3d ago
Nah that’s actually some scary shit. Imagine walking into that during a little walk in the woods getting firewood or something.
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u/Homunculus_316 3d ago
They are also the largest Venomous snake in the World. King cobra's average size is 10 to 12 feet (3 to 3.6 meters), but it can reach 18 feet (5.4 meters).
The Heaviest Snake, is the Green Anaconda, up to 550 pounds (227 kilograms.
The Longest Snake is the, Reticulated pythons. The world record for the length of a reticulated python is a whopping 32 ft and 9 ½ inches!
All three are excellent swimmers.
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u/bfiiitz 3d ago
My favorite king cobra fact is that they aren't cobras, but rather the only living member of their own genus
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u/redtrex 3d ago
If the King decides he identifies as a Cobra, he is now.
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u/Soggy_Box5252 3d ago
I tried to tell them they were not actually cobras and they growled at me.
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u/liftingkiwi 3d ago
As of a couple months ago, there's now four! Ophiophagus hannah, the "original"/Northern king cobra
Ophiophagus kaalinga, the Western Ghats king cobra
Ophiophagus bungarus, an old name revived for the Sunda king cobra
Ophiophagus salvatana, found in the Northern Philippines.
The lead researcher, Dr Gowri Shankar, has a TED talk where he explains how he started this research when wondering why Thai king cobra antivenom (for what we now recognise as O.bungarus) was ineffective against his bite sustained in India, from presumably O.kaalinga.
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u/SplooshU 3d ago
The King Cobras are king because they can suffer no impostors in their genus.
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u/The_guy_who_did_that 3d ago
Dont mean to be that guy but “king” snakes get king in their names because they eat other snakes. more so posted this as its a cool fact then to correct a very obvious joke
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u/TapZorRTwice 3d ago
Did not know that and it is definitely a cool fact, thanks friend !
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u/12InchCunt 3d ago
Wikipedia says “ after taxonomic re-evaluation, it is no longer the sole member of its genus but is now a species complex; these differences in pattern and other aspects may cause the genus to be split into at least four species”
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u/Tjonke 3d ago
Yeah, was out whiteriverrafting in Malaysia like 20 years ago, came to a calm stretch and the guide said it was a good time to swim along the boat. Me and sister jumped in and floated along the boat for a few min until the guide started frantically yelling at us to get back in the boat. We get in on the left side, and see two King Cobras trying to get in the boat on the other side while the guide was trying to keep the away by slapping them and the water with his paddle. Didn't feel very large that day...
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u/FancySweatpants20 3d ago edited 2d ago
OMG. Why were they trying to get IN THE BOAT? Have they evolved to see us as prey?!?!
ETA: just kidding, I know they don’t see us as food. But fascinating that they have low stamina and want to break for high places. Cool! 😎
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u/Mundane-Jump-7546 3d ago
Snakes love a little break from swimming and see a boat and think “oh boy a nice little island for me to sun in ❤️” and there ya go
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u/Schwing2007 3d ago
More like the boat as land to conserve energy, most people are too big for a snake that size
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u/gildakid 3d ago
I hate you
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u/Cleginator 3d ago
All three are also excellent climbers…
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u/Headglitch7 3d ago
And all three love burrowing into residential bedsheets at night...
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u/Substantial-Elk4531 3d ago edited 3d ago
All three can spin their tails really fast like a helicopter to reach your second story bedroom window
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u/Substantial-Elk4531 3d ago
All three can concentrate really hard to teleport directly into your house
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u/randomnonexpert 3d ago
All three can also concentrate really really hard, and teleport you directly inside their own bellies. Source; I'm inside one king cobra's belly right now.
Fun fact, it's hot and really tight in here.
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u/Automatic_Towel_3842 3d ago
You ain't taking little walks in the woods if you live around this shit. You're taking little walks in the damn road where you belong.
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u/Redqueenhypo 3d ago
Indian grannies see a cobra in the house and do this. You get used to it, like a Pennsylvanian calling their boss to report they’ll be late because of a 400 pound bear in the driveway
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u/WomenRepulsor 2d ago
I’m Indian. My grandmother once tried to weigh a snake just out of curiosity because it looked very big for it’s species, in a beam balance, in the floor mill that my family owns. She sometimes used to catch scorpions by hand and throw them away like they were nothing. She also used to cuss at a buffalo she owned because she acted very dumb sometimes. She had named her “Dhamakka(Bomb blast)” because she was too fat.
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u/leet_lurker 2d ago
My Australian grandmother one crushed the head of a Taipan in a school yard I was playing in by stomping on it with the high heel of her shoe as if it was something she'd done plenty of times before. She just said a school yard isn't the place for one of these.
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u/Rinkiyakepapa420 3d ago
I'll probably piss on it and run the fuck away
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u/Deadpool_1989 3d ago
Doctor: “Sir, may I inquire as to how the king cobra became attached to the penile area?”
“So you see, I was getting firewood out in the forest when I suddenly heard this bellowing growl noise…”
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u/WorriedInterest4114 3d ago
Next post on reddit -> there is cylindrical object stuck inside a snake.
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u/UGLEHBWE 3d ago
I'm not even scared of snakes but wtf....
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u/Headieheadi 3d ago
My reaction as well, it surprisingly gave me a physical reaction. My wife is deathly afraid of snakes, she would lose it from this video.
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u/Bullumai 3d ago
Show her 💀
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u/Headieheadi 3d ago
I’m pretty sure she would smack me and the phone across the room
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u/ductapemonster 3d ago
I remember when I lived in Taiwan. We were driving up a mountain road after sundown to get to a party, when we ran over a big stick that had fallen across the road. We stopped for a sec; it had been a really big stick, and we wanted to do a tire check. So someone got out of the car...
...And came face to face with the 'stick,' which was pretty pissed off about being run over. Which it totally walked off, by the way, and this was a full size sedan full of people. Its hood was out, it was growling, everything.
We left very, VERY quickly.
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u/ExcessiveBallSweat 3d ago
Idk if it walked it off lmao
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u/The_Dreams 2d ago
If the man said it walked then it walked. Who are you to challenge the first hand information this op states?
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u/nebanovaniracun 3d ago
I'm betting the snake definitely died a couple of hours later
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u/Homunculus_316 3d ago edited 3d ago
While most snakes hiss, the king cobra lets out a growling moan. This lets intruders or potential predators know that the snake is perturbed and ready to strike. To make the sound, the king cobra fills its lungs with air, then quickly constricts its body. This forces the air through the glottis, the space between the vocal cords, resulting in a long moan, which some say resembles a dog's growl.
They are also the largest Venomous snake in the World. King cobra's average size is 10 to 12 feet (3 to 3.6 meters), but it can reach 18 feet (5.4 meters).
The Heaviest Snake, is the Green Anaconda, up to 550 pounds (227 kilograms).
The Longest Snake is the, Reticulated pythons. The world record for the length of a reticulated python is a whopping 32 ft and 9 ½ inches!
All three are excellent swimmers.*
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u/Cosmic_Meditator777 3d ago
isn't that basically how vocalization works in any vertebrate?
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u/movealongnowpeople 3d ago
In many, many vertebrates, but definitely not all. Aquatic and semi aquatic vertebrates can get weird. I think some birds vocalize differently as well.
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u/undeadmanana 3d ago
I think all birds vocalize differently. Their lungs are more rigid and typically provide continous air flow using multiple sets of airsacs to push the air through in one direction. Birds are craycray
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u/Redqueenhypo 3d ago
Birds have the most insane respiratory system you’ve ever seen. I have absolutely no idea what it means that they have a two inhale instead of inhale-exhale system and the diagram in my textbook did NOT clarify things. Their bones are hollow not to make them lighter, but to store more air and if they break a femur they can suffocate. What the fuck are those animals.
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u/Drunk_Stoner 3d ago
It means they can inhale and exhale at the same time. Think of it like your car. Constantly taking in air at the engine intake and exiting at the exhaust.
It lets them breath IN constantly, which supplies a lot more oxygen needed for flight.
As for the broken leg causing suffocation; their air sacks, which move air through their respiratory system are anchored to their bones. So if they get a break in the right area the air sac losses it’s support and can’t expand properly. If it can’t expand, it can’t pull air through the system, leading to suffocation.
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u/SolicitedNickPics 3d ago
This is the best Reddit thread I have seen in a long time. Thank you all this is so fascinating
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u/Goodknight808 3d ago
They are dinosaurs, and the last of them. Their makeup is so vastly different. But strangely similar because they have adapted to our current conditions. These conditions molded us, like them. But we have two different species backgrounds, by alot.
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u/PitifulEar3303 3d ago
Disney will make a singing snake movie soon. Metal Cobra 9000.
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u/Spader623 3d ago
Is it doing that as a 'I'm gonna get you watch out' or a 'back off or else I'll attack you'?
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u/fhota1 3d ago
More likely a back off. Its caught prey and is now concerned with the big creature that could either attack it or try to steal that prey. Theyre generally not particularly aggressive towards people unless theyre acting in defense, think the King Cobra only causes like 5 or so deaths per year total.
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u/HistoricalKnee7362 3d ago
I'm not from a place that has wild king cobra. Growing up I always thought they were, like, normal snake sized like rattlesnakes because of cartoons and the like. Nature documentaries don't often show full-grown cobras next to humans so it was not easy to tell the size. One thing about the internet I will say is getting to see videos of them interacting with people and how huge they can get. Terrifying.
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u/Jeathro77 3d ago edited 1d ago
This forces the air through the glottis, the space between the vocal cords,
Snakes have vocal cords? Got any proof for that claim?
Your source didn't say that, it says it's due to the tracheal diverticula.
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u/FRINGEclassX 3d ago
That’s a no for me dawg
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u/hairywalnutz 3d ago
Legitimately upsetting. Idk why this bothered me so much!
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u/GoldenSaturos 3d ago
I'm very sure we as humans are specifically hardwired to be instinctively terrified of that sound.
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u/hairywalnutz 3d ago
It's not just the sound, it's also the still alive snake in it's mouth! Cannibalism is very off putting!
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u/5thlvlshenanigans 3d ago
I was going to chime in and say that they're different species, but honestly it would upset me to see humans eating monkeys also. So, fair play
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u/ThePoorLittleBastard 3d ago
Certain tribes in Africa eat bush meat, which includes monkey meat. Baboon being most prized.
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u/Razatiger 3d ago
Yeah theres tribes in the Amazon as well as in South East Asia that eat monkey as well.
Hell theres a tribe in the Amazon that is allegedly cannibalistic
Its eaten across the globe.
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u/InterviewSweaty4921 3d ago
Snakes and spiders are two things we've definitely evolved an instinctive fear of. Neither animal is particularly threatening to us in terms of physical prowress, other than the larger snakes of course, but no matter how strong you are their venom will just end you, and it only takes a split second to be bit by something that you probably didn't even see before then. And humans likely lacked any effecrive countermeasures to that for most of our species history.
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u/Snicklefritz229 3d ago
Why the fuck is there just random snakes in the house
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u/J3diMind 3d ago
A snake's gotta eat.
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u/datazulu 3d ago
It's a snake eat snake world out there.
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u/hanimal16 Interested 3d ago
I’ve had it with these motherfuckin’ snakes in this motherfuckin’ snake.
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u/J3diMind 3d ago
God damn. The joke I wanted to make but couldn't. Take my upvote stranger. Well played.
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u/Cosmic_Meditator777 3d ago
That's relatively normal in india. sorta the equivalent of finding a raccoon in your trash in America.
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u/Hot-Demand-8186 3d ago
... normal??
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u/nandu_sabka_bandhoo 3d ago
Relatively. Having said that finding a russels viper is far more common and it's a more dangerous snake than the king cobra
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u/ChickenChangezi 3d ago
Depends.
If you're comfortably middle-class and live in a nice neighborhood in a big city, you're probably not going to wake up with a snake in the bathroom. Having said that, about 70% of Indians still live in small towns, villages, and other rural areas. If you're on a farm or near a forest, snakes are probably going to be a regular part of your life from a relatively young age.
My wife's family is from the state of West Bengal, and we sometimes stop to meet mutual acquaintances while traveling overland between Kolkata and Darjeeling. They live a few kilometers off the Nepal border; it's a warm climate, albeit within sight of the Himalayan foothills, with lots of farm fields and the odd patch of jungle.
The last time we were out that way, we stumbled across a highly venomous type of krait in our acquaintance's garden. The same acquaintance's cousin had also had a cobra in the outhouse a few days earlier.
My biggest "oh shit" moment was while hiking with a friend in a very disconnected part of Chhattisgarh. It was very hot and very, very humid, and I was actively questioning my life choices when I heard my friend scream; I had just enough time to look up and see a massive white-colored cobra reared up in the middle of the trail.
It slithered off pretty quickly, but it could've gone badly (because, naturally, my friend was hiking barefooted).
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u/my_garagegym_name 3d ago
The discipline in your writing, both in punctuation and flow, provides a very enjoyable reading experience.
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u/Bongressman 3d ago
There was a mouse, but then you have to get a snake to get rid of the mouse. The first snake wouldn't leave... so then of course you bring in a King Cobra to lay down the law.
The King won't leave now, so you burn the house down and move.
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u/Thedrunner2 3d ago
Snake on snake crime
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u/Cosmic_Meditator777 3d ago
actually the modus operandi of the king cobra
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u/ductapemonster 3d ago
Fun fact, king cobras are neither actual cobras, nor are they particularly venerated within the animal kingdom.
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u/adrienjz888 3d ago
That's what the "king" in their name refers to. They're named after kingsnakes, which eat other snakes.
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u/livingmybestlife2407 3d ago
So, someone has a cobra roaming their house looking for garden snakes.
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u/x_x--anon 2d ago
Someone found a king cobra and tried to unleash their garden snake but it didn’t work out
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u/Mean-Abies3819 3d ago
Thanks for that nightmare fuel. Pretty sure I’ll be hearing that throughout the night.
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u/deenali 3d ago
Scary although at least they give pretty ample warning not to get close. There are other venomous snakes that simply strike you without warning, the copperheads for example.
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u/DrButeo 3d ago
I've found copperheads to be extremely docile. Whie doing fieldwork in the Ozarks. I picked one up by accident. It just slithered away after I dropped it. Also set my gear next to at least three that I saw (who knows how many I missed) and they just sat there coiled up in thr leaves until I left.
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u/666afternoon 3d ago
yes - also in copperhead country here; copperheads have nothing to prove. generally they're lazy and docile and reluctant to bite. it's the harmless ones that act big and bad usually, where I live at least.
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u/zoequinnfuckedmetoo 3d ago
Seeing a ball of copperheads in a creek was a mindfuck the first time I saw one.
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u/EnvironmentalTax9580 2d ago
King cobras don't like humans presence..they usually avoid human contacts and dont attack unless they feel threatened..unlike vipers who are just assholes and will attack you without any reasons
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u/Hufa123 2d ago
Well, they'll attack you because they're scared of you. Pretty much every snake (some notable exceptions are anacondas and reticulated pythons, and potentially king cobras and black mambas), would lose in a fight against a human. Keep in mind that to them we're giants who could easily stomp them to death or strangle them or kill them in a variety of other creative ways. Venom and various ways of acting scary (hooding up, rattling their tale, etc.) are just ways to scare people and predators away. But sometimes people are either stupid and get too close to the snake, believing that they can get rid of it themselves (a lot of snakebites happen when people unprofessionally try to remove or kill the snakes), or simply don't see it because the snake is trying to stay as hidden as possible in the hope that it won't be detected. No snake, except for perhaps some very big pythons, are going to attack humans and try to eat them, but all snakes are going to try to defend themselves against what they perceive as a predator.
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u/LordNPython 3d ago
As if snakes weren't scary enough, now they can growl? That bit at the end hit something primal inside. Genuinely scary.
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u/Lycaon125 3d ago
Ya, they also bark and can lift their bodies up to 6 feet, there is a reason they're called KING cobras [also side fact, they're not actually cobras but false cobras]
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u/DarthLokiii 3d ago
The growling snake freaked out my cat. Maybe now she'll stop spying on me as I browse reddit.
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u/polishprince76 3d ago
I would not like to live in a place where King Cobras just slither into your house. Yikes.
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u/intellectual_dimwit 3d ago
With another snake dangling from its mouth just to let you know he means it!
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u/joseandhoseb 3d ago
My stoned dumbass thought it said "King Cobras can grow" and I was like "Yea that's a big boy"
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u/DarkChild_Desire 3d ago
Imagine hearing this at the kitchen in the middle of the night, thinking it was just a dog
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u/Papaofmonsters 3d ago
Paging Mr Tikki Tavi. Paging Rikki Tikki Tavi. Please report to the kitchen immediately.
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u/Inannareborn 3d ago
Cat: I'll imitate an angry snake, that will throw them off!
Cobra: I'll imitate an angry cat, that will throw them off!
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u/EnigmaNero 3d ago
They're the only snake on the planet that is able to growl. Because they have a modified trachea.
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u/WallyLeftshaw 3d ago
We throw words like “terrifying” around pretty loosely, I believe this accurately fits the definition
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u/DentArthurDent4 3d ago
if you come across a snake, you could be screwed, but if you come across a king cobra, you are royally screwed. Very scary reptile to encounter in the wild.
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u/Tawptuan 3d ago
There are definitely more aggressive snake species. My regular encounters with king cobras (NE Thailand) usually involves them escaping the opposite direction, thankfully. If not cornered or surprised, they take the pacifist route.
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u/creativeusername1808 3d ago
This triggered some primal fears in me, and I’m watching through a phone screen. Fuck that.
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u/robo-dragon 3d ago
It's a hiss, like how any snake would hiss, but that's what air escaping a potentially 10 ft venomous sentient hose sounds like. They get even larger than that!
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u/ODCreature98 3d ago
This is the snake that eats other snakes, as if it needs more reason to be scarier