i le Rep t The king cobra is the world’s largest poisonous snake It may grow to twice the length of a Ping-Pong table Its venom is so powerful that elephants have died within three hours of a bite on the toe or trunk R o yalty EA R C H LIG S H T King cobras are yellow-olive to brownish black sometimes with lighter bands across the back Like other cobras the king cobra is known for its unique threat display When it is angered or disturbed it raises its head and flares its narrow unmarked hood This shows its yellow or red throat which often is striped The king cobra can raise its head to a third of its entire length and may even move forward while upright It is very curious by nature and often sits upright to see farther It may be the most intelligent of all snakes People are afraid of cobras and as a result often kill the snakes Why do you think people are scared of cobras Hint What would you worry about if you came face to face with a cobra The king cobra prowls in forests fields and villages It mostly eats other snakes and normally does not bite humans In captivity it is aggressive to strangers but recognizes its keeper and knows when it’s mealtime However it can become dangerous during the mating season or when cornered or startled The female cobra builds a nest for egg laying Using a loop of her body as an arm she pulls leaves soil and ground litter into a mound In this nest she lays 20 to 40 eggs She coils above or near the eggs for about two months and fiercely defends them The king cobra is found in parts of Asia from southern China to the Philippines Indonesia and India LEARN MORE READ THESE ARTICLES ELEPHANTS MONGOOSES SPIDERS DID YOU KNOW The king cobra has an unusual hiss that is much lower than other snakes more like a growl than a hiss 10
KING COBRAS The king cobra like other cobras performs the famous threat display by pulling the ribs of the neck sideways and forward This flattens the neck into a hood Heiko Kiera Fotolia people each year than the other way around threatening Actually far more snakes are injured and killed by humans Cobras also have a flaring hood that makes them look killed people with their bite many consider the snake a danger to Answer Because cobras are poisonous and have occasionally 11
D I D YO U K N O W ike their cousins the housecats ocelots don’t mind a swim now and Unl then They’re quite good at it Tom Brakefield Corbis 12
OCELOTS ted Sp o t Ame r i c a n Cats When we think of cats we usually think of small housecats or big cats like lions and tigers But there are many kinds of cats of all sizes that still live in the wild One such cat is the ocelot The ocelot is about twice the size of a housecat The ocelot is found in the Ocelot of Costa Rica in Central America Kevin Schafer Corbis Western Hemisphere from Texas in the southwestern United States down to Argentina in South America It lives in several different habitats including tropical forests grasslands and brush The ocelot’s fur is short smooth and yellowish gray There are small black spots on its head two black stripes on each cheek and four or five black stripes along its neck This coat is good camouflage for the ocelot It makes the animal hard to see in the leafy shade for example But its patterned fur is also attractive to humans People hunt the ocelot for its fur and so the number of ocelots in the wild has shrunk In the United States it’s illegal to hunt ocelots or to sell their fur In the wild ocelots generally like to live alone They sleep during the day usually in a tree or in other heavy plant cover At night they hunt for rodents birds reptiles and fish However they will also kill pets and other small domestic animals left outdoors Ocelot kittens start hunting with their mothers when they are about three months old When they are a year old they leave the mother and start living on their own Some people try to keep ocelots as pets since they are easily tamed when they’re kittens But when they grow up the adult ocelots can sometimes be bad-tempered LEARN MORE READ THESE ARTICLES CHAMELEONS LIONS OPOSSUMS S EA R C H LIG H T Look at the small photo Why do you think it’s hard to know just how many ocelots there are in some areas Hint What do the spots on the ocelot’s fur do for it a leafy background and makes it difficult to see day or night with dense leaf cover An ocelot’s spotted coat helps it blend into Answer Ocelots sleep during the day in trees and other areas 13
