Should the King Cobra be Crowned the World’s Smartest Snake?

The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is an iconic reptile, shrouded in mythology and with a fearsome reputation. Their enormous size, majestic hood and regal title mean that almost everyone who has even a broad interest in animals knows of “the king”. Those who have worked with the species often recite anecdotes of personable snakes with high cognitive ability and distinct characteristics. Whether the king cobra is more intelligent than other snakes is up for debate, but Professor of Herpetology and venomous snake expert, Mark O’Shea MBE has experienced interactions with ‘the king’ that serve to question our entire understanding of reptile intelligence.

A young king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah)

 Make Way For The King

The king cobra is a species of elapid, found across a variety of habitats in lowland tropical South and Southeast Asia. Reaching over 15 feet in length, it is the largest venomous snake on the planet. Despite having a cobra-like ‘hood’ which it displays as a threat, it is the sole member of the genus Ophiophagus. In fact, ‘the king’ is now thought to be more closely related to the mambas (Dendroaspis spp.) of Africa than it is to any of the 10 species* of cobra with which it shares common ground. The term ‘king’ comes from the species’ dietary preference, as it actively feeds on other snakes including venomous species. This term has been used to describe kingsnakes (Lampropeltis spp.) and king brown snakes (Pseudechis australis) which also feed on other snakes. Both the king brown (a species of blacksnake) and the king cobra (not closely related to other cobra species) have earned their titles despite the fact their common names do not represent their true scientific groupings. However, it is not just herpetologists that have had their scientific knowledge clouded by the sheer majesty of the King.

“There are so many stories about them, and they have such as mythology” explains Mark O’Shea. “There is an idea that if you kill a king cobra, its mate will look in its eye and see the killer and track them down. Another one says that king cobras come to villages to die. Another states that if 100 people see a king cobra, it will die (but that’s probably because someone has a bush knife).”

While mythology can often lead to cultural significance for a species (which in some cases can help protect the animal), it can also spark scientific intrigue. Animals that are revered by indigenous cultures have usually been shrouded in myths and upheld within communities for a very long time. Even without any scientific backing, there is always a reason why these animals receive the fame or infamy that they do and this can be an interesting prompt for further study.

Mark continued: “There are a lot of stories, but it does appear that something is going on behind those eyes.”

“We often make these generalist statements about snakes. For example, we say these things like ‘snakes can’t hear airborne sounds, they detect vibrations’ but I’m sure some airborne sounds create vibrations. Another example is ‘snakes aren’t intelligent’ and I’m just as guilty as the next person for saying that in the past. But, maybe that is because we tend to think of intelligence strictly as mammalian intelligence.”

 An Audience with Royalty

In 2002, Mark visited India to make a film on the king cobra called “The Cobra’s Revenge” as part of his show, O’Shea’s Big Adventure. His team were not testing for anything that could be considered ‘intelligence’, but they did make some very interesting observations. “we were aiming to record the growl of the king cobra” explained Mark. “Big, male king cobras are supposed to growl. They’re also supposed to show one fang as a threat. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t or maybe they’re just opening their mouth slightly as a threat. We know that they can hood as a threat and nobody questions that.”

Bruce Young at the University of Massachusetts had previously recorded king cobra growls. This phenomenon, whereby the snake hisses at a completely different frequency to most species, has only been recorded in a handful of Asian rat snake species. Mark continued: “We caught a female king cobra. She was about 9 or 10 feet long. Then, we built a big, screened area probably about 6 feet high, out of tarpaulin and cut some windows into it to put cameras through. We were going to play these king cobra growls to her to see if she responded. This wasn’t a scientific experiment at all. I call it ‘bucket science’ because we thought, let’s just see what happens – we were never going to publish it.”

“First off, she came over to where I was and I heard Anees, the Indian herpetologist I was working with call over to me, in a sort of shout/whisper. He goes ‘look, she’s above you’ and she had climbed up the corner and was on the top of the enclosure, looking down at my head. I reached for my snake hook and gently pushed her back down inside. A while later I’m talking to one of the camera crew and she was opposite me. As I turned back, I saw her pupils align forwards and she could clearly tell the front of my face from the side of my head. She responded to the fact she could see my face. Could she recognise me? She’s not supposed to! But of course, some snakes have excellent vision like the binocular tree snakes in the genus Ahaetulla, they can focus on a lizard camouflaged in the canopy. So again, her not being able to see well is another inaccurate generalisation. Then when she looked at me, she began to sway. I was thinking she might strike, but she didn’t. I got this unnerving feeling that she was silently asking ‘Why have you caught me? Why am I here? What have I done?’ and I felt incalculably guilty. I had never felt like that before. She was totally fixated on me and it felt like she just wanted to know. I was so eager to finish the film that the best part of making that film was releasing her and watching her swim away down a creek – I felt a great relief to see her free again.”

Mark milking a Papuan taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) in 2010.

Kingdoms and Empires

King cobras can be found in southwestern India, and from Nepal and West Bengal across tropical Asia and as far southeast as Bali and Sulawesi and east to the Philippines. Because they have such widespread distribution across some very significant habitats, it is surprising that they are currently considered one individual species. However, that will likely change soon.

Mark continued: “Gowri Shankar and Indraneil Das had been working on the speciation of king cobras for some time. I don’t know how far they are from publication, but I would say there are going to be about seven different species of king cobra eventually. If that is the case, some species will need extra protection. For example, the population in the Western Ghats in southwest India are likely to be another species. The nearest population to that is in West Bengal. This is where the type locality of the species is, meaning the Bengali population will retain the species name hannah. However, there is a massive gap between the two populations, so they have been isolated for a very long time. The same probably holds true for some of the islands out in Indonesia and the Philippines.”

Although the distance between these populations will play a significant role in their evolutionary distinction, there are several other factors which must be considered when researching species distribution. In the case of the king cobra, even populations which are a reasonably close distance from one another (in the Philippines for example) are more likely to be more distinct than those that inhabit islands separated by thousands of miles of ocean. “Bali is too close to Java for it to be different to the Javanese or even the Sumatran populations” added Mark. “This is possibly the same for Borneo and the southern Malay Peninsula because these landmasses all lie on the relatively shallow Sunda Shelf which was land during the last ice age. During that time sea levels were 120m lower than they are today because so much water was locked up in the ice. So, you could have walked from the Malay Peninsula to Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. You couldn’t have walked to Lombok because the narrow strait between Bali and Lombok is very deep. This is where the Wallace Line passes through the archipelago. Similarly, Australia, southern New Guinea and the Aru Islands lie on the shallow water Sahul Shelf which was land and allowed migration of animals and man during the last ice age. When you think of tectonic plates, Pleistocene land bridges and the land bridges before that, you have to almost think in 3D. The world hasn’t always looked like it does now. You have to think in space and time when you think of animal distributions.” 

There are some notifiable morphological differences in the various populations of king cobras across Asia. All neonates will exhibit distinctive banded patterns down their dorsum. As the snakes mature, these bands become less and less prevalent, with some patterning and colouration still on the animal’s hood. Some grow to be very drab, whilst others retain a dark colouration and preserve some banding right until adulthood. King cobras in Thailand tend to be more striking in their appearance, with up to 70 light bands stretching down their black bodies. Those in the Phillipines have just a few dark rings. Genetic research is now uncovering unique lineages in these species and up to four unique species have already been identified by Gowri Shankar and are due to be published soon.

 Parenthood

King cobras are the only snakes known to build ‘nests’ in which they lay their eggs. This unique behaviour is something that has been observed in the mid-20th Century and still, no other species of snake has been recorded as gathering nesting materials (usually leaf litter) in which to lay. Females will gather materials with their bodies to form a mound, off the monsoon-soaked ground during the breeding season. The mounds are created with such precision that they remain intact throughout monsoon season and help to ensure the eggs remain dry. In 2021, Jingnasu Dolia of the Wildlife Institute of India published photographs from a camera trap that recorded a male king cobra visit a nesting female nest and lying beside her, on the eggs for over 7 minutes. Although this is an isolated and very rare interaction it may prompt more questions on the social lives and cognitive ability of snakes.

Interestingly, different populations of king cobras exhibit different parental behaviours. In some regions, females will fiercely guard their eggs (much like Lachesis spp. in South America). There have been reports of females defending their eggs against Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) which can be killed from a bite to their sensitive trunks. In other regions, females will lay their eggs on their nest and leave them almost immediately.

 Snake intelligence

Captive animals can also teach us a great deal about the cognitive abilities of a species. Although zoos and private collections should be encouraging as much naturalistic behaviour as possible, novel enrichment is extremely important for exercising our animals’ minds. Not only do unusual objects and experiences provide mental stimulation for an animal in a captive environment, but they also give us a broader understanding of what the species is capable of and how this might apply to a wild setting.

Mark was also curator of West Midlands Safari Park’s Reptile House from 1987 to 2019. During that time, he worked with many venomous snakes in a captive setting. Since then, venomous handling techniques have changed drastically and most zookeepers and private DWA keepers now opt for a ‘hands-off’ approach when working with potentially life-threatening animals. However, Mark developed a bond with a king cobra named “Sleeping Beauty” who developed her nickname after a veterinary procedure that left her under anaesthetic for 100 hours. This meant Mark had to tweak her tail for five minutes every hour until she awakened. “She knew me” claims Mark. “She also knew Steve Slater who was working with me but when we had a new member of staff training with us, she would watch them. When I would go into her enclosure, I would tap on the wall of the enclosure to wake her up, she’d see it was me and she would just sit there and let me get on. When we needed her out of the enclosure, I would take her out, take her to the venomous handling room, let my colleagues do whatever they needed to do and when we were done, I would open the exhibit and she would go back in herself. I’d take in a hose, dampen all the bedding, and then stand there for a few minutes spraying water up and down her body. She would hood in front of me and I would just spend a few minutes spraying her head and her body and she would be drinking the water. I was certain that she loved the feeling of this water, just as if she was in the shower.”

Animal behavioural studies are beginning to uncover previously unexplainable insights into animal intelligence. As people work more closely with exotic animals such as reptiles, interesting anecdotes and observations can fuel a wider dialogue around animal intelligence. Many zoos are implementing training strategies with monitor lizards and even some larger snakes. As these are confirming ideas that were previously attributed to sensationalised anthropomorphism, it is interesting to consider the cognitive potential of our pet reptiles.

Mark added: “We had a retic (Malayopython reticulatus) for the ‘reptile encounters’ experience at the Safari Park. We had raised her from the egg and she was now about 14 feet long and I would place her on a wooden beam while I presented. She would come up to my face and flick her tongue while I’m talking, I would be stroking her under her chin, and she seemed to enjoy that. Everyone would be so surprised and out would come the camera-phones! Again, she seemed to know me, trust me, maybe she knew my scent. It might be that there are more snakes beyond king cobras that are capable of identifying keepers.” 

 The Rules of Nature

Although it’s easy to apply anthropomorphism to justify or contest aspects of reptile keeping, it is important to consider that our understanding of animal ‘intelligence’ is limited. The king cobra was first described in 1836. Since that time, we have begun to learn that there are possibly several different species in this complex, that they have unique parental instincts and perhaps they are even capable of identifying individual humans. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the incredible scientific breakthroughs that have accompanied our understanding of Ophiophagus hannah. Mark concluded: “There’s only one rule in nature and that’s that there are no rules in nature. We make these generalised statements about groups of organisms but there’s usually an exception to the rule.

Herpetology enthusiasts do not need to venture into the jungles of India or come face to face with mystical reptiles to understand how generalised statements can skew our understanding of reptile intelligence. Anyone who has kept a pet reptile for more than 10 years will have seen advancements in their care and a greater emphasis on enrichment and enriching environments. Although the king cobra is a fascinating model species, there could be many more exotic animals that possess surprising cognitive abilities. Ensuring that all captive snakes can stretch these skills through enrichment strategies, is our best way to safeguard from potentially harmful practices that keepers may, one day, look back and regret.

 *(atra, kaouthia, mandalayensis, naja, philippinensis, sagittifera, samarensis, siamensis, sputatrix, sumatrana)

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