Egyptian cobra

The Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) is a species in the genus Naja found in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is one of the largest Naja species in Africa.

Contents 1 Description 2 Habitat 3 Behavior 4 Venom 5 Taxonomy 6 Distribution 6.1 In zoos 6.2 Bronx Zoo escape 7 Other cultures 7.1 In Ancient Egyptian culture and history 7.2 As a pet 8 References

Description

The Egyptian cobra may grow to between 5 and 8 feet (1.5 and 2.4 m) in length. The most recognizable characteristics of an Egyptian cobra are its head and hood. The head is large and depressed with a broad snout. The cobra's eyes are large with round pupils. The colour is variable, but most specimens are some shade of brown, often with lighter or darker mottling, and often a "tear-drop" mark below the eye. Specimens from northwestern Africa (Morocco, Western Sahara) are almost entirely black.

Habitat

The Egyptian cobra typically makes its home in dry to moist savanna and semi-desert regions with at least some water and vegetation (never in desert regions). The cobra may also be found in oases, agricultural grounds, rock crevices, hills with sparse vegetation, and grasslands.

Behavior

The Egyptian cobra is terrestrial and nocturnal in the wild, though in captivity they seem to tend towards diurnality.^[2] It can, however, be seen basking in the sun at times in the early morning. It shows a preference for a permanent home in abandoned animal burrows, termite mounds or rock outcrops and the like, sometimes entering human habitations to hunt domestic fowl. It will generally attempt to escape when approached, at least for a few metres, but if threatened it assumes the typical upright posture with the hood expanded. This snake preys on small mammals, lizards, toads, and other snakes.

Venom

The venom of the Egyptian cobra is mainly neurotoxic.^[3] The average venom yield is 175 to 300 mg in a single bite, and the subcutaneous median lethal dose of this species is 1.15 mg/kg.^[4][5] The venom affects the nervous system, stopping the nerve signals from being transmitted to the muscles and at later stages stopping those transmitted to the heart and lungs as well, causing death due to complete respiratory failure. Envenomation causes local pain, severe swelling, bruising, blistering, necrosis and variable non-specific effects which may include headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dizziness, collapse or convulsions along with possible moderate to severe flaccid paralysis. Unlike some other African cobras (for example the Red spitting cobra), this species does not spit venom.^[6]

Taxonomy

The specific name haje is the transliteration of Arabic حية which is the word for snake or viper. The snouted cobra (Naja annulifera) and Anchieta's cobra (Naja anchietae) were formerly regarded as subspecies of Naja haje, but have since been shown to be distinct species.^[7][8] The Arabian populations were long recognised as a separate subspecies, Naja haje arabica, and the black populations from Morocco sometimes as Naja haje legionis. A recent study^[9] found that the Arabian cobra constitutes a separate species, Naja arabica, whereas the subspecies legionis was synonymised with N. haje. The same study also identified the West African savanna populations as a separate species and described it as Naja senegalensis.

Distribution

The Egyptian Cobra ranges across most of North Africa north of the Sahara, across the savannas of West Africa to the south of the Sahara, south to the Congo basin and east to Kenya and Tanzania, and in southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula.^[10]

In zoos

The Egyptian Cobra can also be found in captivity at zoos both in and outside of the snake’s natural range. The Giza Zoo^[11] and the San Diego Zoo^[12] as well as the Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach, VA include the Egyptian Cobra in their reptile collection.

Bronx Zoo escape

On March 26, 2011, the Bronx Zoo informed the public that their reptile house was closed after a venomous adolescent female Banded Egyptian cobra was discovered missing from its off-exhibit enclosure on March 25. The Cobra is actually a Banded Snouted cobra, N. annulifera, formerly considered conspecific to the Egyptian Cobra. Zoo officials were confident the missing cobra would be found in the building and not outside, since the Egyptian cobra is known to be uncomfortable in open areas.^[13] The snake's metabolism would also have been impacted by the cold weather outdoors at that time in the Bronx. The cobra was found in a dark corner of the zoo's reptile house on March 31, 2011, in good health.^[14] After a contest, she was named "Mia" for "missing in action."

Other cultures

In Ancient Egyptian culture and history

The Egyptian cobra was represented in Egyptian mythology by the cobra-headed goddess Meretseger. A stylised Egyptian Cobra — in the form of the uraeus representing the goddess Wadjet — was the symbol of sovereignty for the Pharaohs who incorporated it into their diadem. This iconography was continued through the period of Ptolemaic Egypt (305 BC-30 BC).

Most ancient sources say that Cleopatra and her two attendants committed suicide by being bitten by an aspis, which translates into English as "asp". The snake was reportedly smuggled into her room in a basket of figs. Plutarch wrote that she performed experiments on condemned prisoners and found aspis venom to be the most painless of all fatal poisons.^[15] This "aspis" was probably Naja haje (the Egyptian cobra). However, the accounts of her apparent suicide have been questioned, since death from this snake's venom is relatively slow, and the snake is large, so it would be hard to conceal.^[16]

As a pet

The Egyptian cobra garnered increased attention in Canada in the fall of 2006 when a pet cobra became loose and forced the evacuation of a house in Toronto^[17] for more than six months when it was believed to have sought refuge in the home's walls. The owner was fined $17,000 and sentenced to jail.^[18]

References

• http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/771918-overview