King Cobra - Behaviour

Behaviour

A king cobra, like other snakes, receives chemical information via its forked tongue, which picks up scent particles and transfers them to a special sensory receptor (Jacobson's organ) located in the roof of its mouth. This is akin to the human sense of smell. When the scent of a meal is detected, the snake flicks its tongue to gauge the prey's location (the twin forks of the tongue acting in stereo); it also uses its keen eyesight (king cobras are able to detect moving prey almost 100 m away), intelligence, and sensitivity to earth-borne vibration to track its prey.

Following envenomation, the king cobra will begin to swallow its struggling prey while its toxins begin the digestion of its victim. King cobras, like all snakes, have flexible jaws. The jaw bones are connected by pliable ligaments, enabling the lower jaw bones to move independently. This allows the king cobra to swallow its prey whole, as well as letting it swallow prey much larger than its head.

King cobras are able to hunt throughout the day, although it is rarely seen at night, leading most herpetologists to classify it as a diurnal species.