Philippine Cobra

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iPhilippine Cobra
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Naja
Species: N. philippinensis
Binomial name
Naja philippinensis
(Reuss, 1834)

The Philippine Cobra (Naja philippinensis) is a relatively small, stocky, very toxic snake native to the Philippines. They are found on the Luzon, Mindoro, Catanduanes and Masbate islands. Its average length is one meter. Its color is light to medium brown while the young cobra's color is a darker brown. They have twenty three to twenty scale rows around the neck and twenty one just above the middle part of the body. They prey upon mice, frogs and small mammals. The female lays eggs in clutches of ten to twenty with an incubation time of sixty to seventy days.

It is one of the ten most venomous snakes in the world. The venom is a neurotoxin which affects cardiac and respiratory function and can cause neurotoxicty and respiratory paralysis and death in thirty minutes. The bite causes only minimal tissue damage. The Philippine cobra is capable of spitting their venom up to three meters.

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