| Red Spitting Cobra | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Elapidae |
| Genus: | Naja |
| Species: | N. pallida |
| Binomial name | |
| Naja pallida Boulenger, 1896 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Naia nigricollis Var. PALLIDA Boulenger, 1896 |
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The Red Spitting Cobra (Naja pallida), is a species of spitting cobra native to Africa. This species is one of several spittings cobra in Africa. Spitting cobras do not spit their venom. Instead, they spray their venom to their enemies, and if the venom gets into the eyes, it can cause intense pain and temporary or even permanent blindness.
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This is a relatively small-sized cobra, with maximum length of 120 cm (4 ft) and smaller sized specimen of about 60 cm (2 ft) to 75 cm (2 ft 6 in). Body color of this species has great variation from red, deep orange, pale red, pinkish and light brown. Red Spitting Cobras found in Northern Africa have duller color while others are much brighter. There is a black band on the underside of the neck. Like most other spitting cobras, the hood of the Red Spitting Cobra is narrow compared with the Indian Cobra and the Cape Cobra. It also has a small round head and a pair of rather large eyes.
The Red Spitting Cobra is mainly found in Eastern Africa, including Kenya and Sudan. It primarily inhabits dry savanna and semi-desert area. It is quite common to be found in oasis in desert where it hunts.
Adults are more commonly found at night while juveniles are active both during day and night. This is a terrestrial, fast and alert snake. When threatened, it rears up and displays a typical cobra hood. It also hisses loudly. If the intruder does not retreat, it may sprays jets of venom to the face of the intruder. Venom that gets into the eyes can cause burning pain and blindness. Even so, this snake seldom bites and causes human death, as this species rarely encounter people due to its habitat and this species is not aggressive.
This species has a wide range of prey, including small mammals, lizards, other snakes, birds and eggs.
This species, like most spitting cobra, contains a mixture of neurotoxic and cytotoxic. Bite symptoms include slight pain around the wound and numbness of lips and tongue. Although it rarely causes human death, urgent medical care is required if someone is bitten by this species.
In September 2011, a snake keeper from South Africa allegedly died shortly after a Red Spitting Cobra sprayed venom into his face whilst he and a friend were photographing the snake. It is believed that some of the venom entered his nasal passages and led to anaphylactic shock.[1]
The Red Spitting Cobra is oviparous. The female will lay around 5 to 15 eggs.
This species was formerly considered to be a subspecies, Naja mossambica pallida, of Naja mossambica, but is now categorized as a separate species [1]. Indeed mossambica is more closely related to N. nigricollis than to this species. The Red Spitting Cobra is closely related and forms a sister taxon with the Nubian Spitting Cobra (Naja nubiae) of northern Africa, which was originally considered a northern population of pallida before being recognized as a distinct species in 2003.