Rare Photo Shows Scary King Cobra With Hypnotic Eyes Feasting On Another Cobra

Most have probably seen a cobra in real life or maybe even in the movies. But only a few may have seen what a king cobra truly looks like. A rare photo was shown on Twitter and many were a bit stunned at the image.

From the photo alone, most will already notice the scary eyes of the reptile, some even calling it hypnotic. But even more uncanny is seeing it eating another cobra. The photo was shared by Indian Forest Services (IFS) officer Parveen Kaswan on Twitter.

While the photo is already rare as it is, the post also gave people a lesson on what there is to know about king cobras. It was called Ophiophagus Hannah, derived from the Greek word that meant snake-eating while Hannah meant tree-dwelling nymphs in Greek mythology.

Further, Kaswan wrote that king cobras normally have a diet that is made up of other snakes.

The post has so far garnered 2,000 likes and 100 retweets on Twitter. Some left their comments, most singling out the scary eyes of the king cobra.

Others shared unique experiences on a king cobra. One shared how he witnessed at his home a king cobra killing and preyed on a rat snake.

“King cobras are foodies, when it comes to other snakes. Rat snakes are their favorite. They swallow big rat snake as it is. It fits in their body,” he said, adding: “They live happily ever after,” Kaswan wrote in another tweet.

A king cobra rarely hunts vertebrates such as rodents and lizards. The reptile has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2010.

In 2018, a battle between a king cobra and a reticulated python was captured but both battled to the death. Neither survived with the king cobra lying strangled while the python was left dead.

“It’s crazy, but it’s something I could easily see happening…it’s a dangerous world out there, to eat other big snakes and things that could kill you,” Coleman Sheehy of the Florida Museum of Natural History stated.