A leaping two-headed Cobra carrying enough venom to kill an elephant with one bite has been discovered in India.
The snake, reportedly a monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia) was found in the village of Ekarukhi in the area of the Belda forest in the north-eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
A herpetologist at the local Forest Department named Kaustav Chakraborty told reporters that a team from the department had been unable to rescue the two-headed snake.
He said that the local villagers hold "mythical beliefs" about the two heads and so refused to give the animal to the team. The beliefs were not specified.
He added that the two heads were a “biological issue” similar to a human “having two heads or thumbs”.
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Chakraboty said that keeping the snake in captivity with experts could help its lifespan.
Local zoologist Soma Chakraborty said the snake as a monocled cobra and said the two heads may have been created when the embryo was split or because of environmental factors.
Netizen ‘N R. Dhanesh’ wrote: “Mutation only.”
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Cobras are Elapids, a type of poisonous snake with hollow fangs fixed to the top jaw at the front of the mouth.
Monocled cobras range from India in the west through to China, Vietnam and Cambodia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, and Thailand.
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It causes the highest fatality due to snake venom poisoning in Thailand and some populations have the ability to spit their venom.
All of the known cobras are venomous and many are capable of rearing upwards and producing a hood when threatened.
They carry enough neurotoxin – venom – to kill 20 people or one elephant, according to LiveScience.
- Animals
- China
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