Has a king cobra ever killed a human?

The cobra only attacks people when it is cornered, in self-defense or to protect its eggs. Throughout its entire range from India to Indonesia, the king cobra causes fewer than five human deaths a year, about one-fifth as many as caused by rattlers in North America.

A king cobra bite can kill a human in 15 minutes and a full-grown elephant in a few hours. What makes these cobras kings is not just their size, or their deadliness — after all, they don't eat humans or elephants — it is that they eat other snakes. Even deadly snakes like kraits or other cobras are prey.

A skilled or lucky human can kill a king cobra and live. You can find videos of people carefully approaching and collecting king cobras with just their bare hands. There's no doubt that this would be difficult and dangerous.

King Cobra is a type of snake that rarely attacks human beings. As per official reports, only four people have died of King Cobra's bite in India so far. However, the zoo keeper's death is the first such case reported case in Kerala, Snakepedia team member Sandeep Das told mathrubhumi.com.

Notable bite cases

Danie Pienaar, who was at various times from at least 2009 to 2017 head of South African National Parks Scientific Services and acting managing executive, survived the bite of a black mamba without antivenom in 1998.

The black mamba is Africa's deadliest snake. Untreated, its bite has a fatality rate of 100 percent, making it a killer among killers on a continent where it is thought that nearly 20,000 people die of snake bites each year, and the residents of Swaziland in southern Africa have suffered losses for generations.

Bites by vipers and some cobras may be extremely painful, with the local tissue sometimes becoming tender and severely swollen within five minutes.

In this case, the victim usually dies within 30 minutes. The only way to save the life of a victim of a cobra bite is to inject the appropriate antivenom shortly after the patient has been bitten or put him on an artificial respirator.

Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)

This snake, found in sub-Saharan Africa, is one of the most feared of all. Unlike the relatively docile inland taipan, the black mamba is known to be particularly aggressive. Although it does not seek out humans, when cornered or threatened it will rear up and strike repeatedly.

The dosage of antivenom for King Cobra envenomation tends to be exceptionally high (beyond 20 vials), probably because of the need to neutralize a massive amount of venom injected - In author's experience, King Cobra is capable of delivering more than 1 gram (dry weight) of venom in one bite, and it has the propensity ...

The inland or western taipan, Oxyuranus microlepidotus, is the most venomous snake in the world, according to Britannica. Native to Australia, this snake has the deadliest venom based on median lethal dose, or LD50, tests on mice.

The experts are unanimous: Leave the snake alone. “Move deliberately and calmly away from the snake – while keeping an eye on its location if possible,” Gray said. “Move to an open area free of brush and rock outcrops if possible” if you're outdoors.

Snake bites are either venomous (if the snake has injected venom into your body) or 'dry' (if no venom is injected). Snake bites may cause pain and swelling around the site of the bite, or there may be very few signs left on the skin.

Many people who survive bites nevertheless suffer from permanent tissue damage caused by venom, leading to disability. Most snake envenomings and fatalities occur in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, with India reporting the most snakebite deaths of any country.

First Aid

Over distance they slow down to 7 MPH (12 KPH). However, the average human run speed over distance is 6 MPH (10 KPH). Thus, you cant outrun a Black Mamba. Still, Black Mambas are extremely shy and will do everything they can to avoid people.

The black mamba is the second-longest venomous snake in the world. The longest venomous snake is the king cobra. Although shorter than the king cobra, a black mamba's venom is five times deadlier.

The world's fastest snake can't travel faster than a human. The black mamba, the current record-holder for fastest snake, can only travel 12 mph. The average human can run at least 15 mph. Not that this really matters unless you're trying to catch a mamba (are you nuts?)

Without medical treatment, mamba bites are frequently fatal. First aid treatment includes lymphatic retardation with immobilization and pressure wrap. Medical management requires the intravenous administration of mamba-specific antivenin.

The reptile is normally shy, but its bite can be deadly, the newspaper reported. "(If) you get bitten by a green mamba without antivenin, your chances of survival are very low," Sean Foley, curator of herpetology at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina, told WRAL.

It is no doubt that king cobras do occasionally consume large prey such as monitor lizards or even pythons. One cannot but wonder how the snake is able to make dynamic decisions and evaluate the risks and gains of pursuing prey such as a rock python, which can potentially kill the cobra by constricting it.

The majority of pure neurotoxic envenomations (NEs) are inflicted during sleep by the kraits. The bite is often painless, and it is not rare to find the patients dead in the morning. Mortality is rare with viper bites that cause hemotoxic envenomation (HE) and occur mostly during activity and daytime.

Venom. The spat toxungen is generally harmless on intact mammalian skin (although contact can result in delayed blistering of the area), but can cause permanent blindness if introduced to the eye; if left untreated it may cause chemosis and corneal swelling.

Pit Viper. While a copperhead snake bite is not often deadly, it can cause severe pain within a few minutes of the bite.

It might be obvious, but the thing to do if you are bitten by a venomous snake is to get to a hospital quickly and receive an antidote. Many people think that the venom kicks in instantly, but it can take between 20 minutes and 72 hours to die if left untreated.

The longest venomous snake

The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is the world's longest venomous snake. In 1937, a 5.54-metre-long king cobra was found in Negeri Sembilan state on the Malay Peninsula. Captured and kept at London Zoo, it eventually grew to 5.71 metres.