Philippine Cobra

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Northern Philippine Cobra
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Naja
Species: N. philippinensis
Binomial name
Naja philippinensis
(Reuss, 1834)[verification needed]

The Northern Philippine Cobra (Naja philippinensis) is a stocky, very toxic snake native to the Philippines. They are found on the Luzon, Mindoro, Catanduanes and Masbate islands. Its average length is 1,70 m. Populations from Mindoro Island are known to be up to 2 Meter in length (Lutz, M., 2006). Its color is light to medium brown while the young cobra's color is a darker brown. They have twenty three to twenty scale rows around the neck and twenty one just above the middle part of the body. They prey upon mice, frogs and small mammals. The female lays eggs in clutches of ten to twenty with an incubation time of sixty to seventy days.

The venom is a neurotoxin which affects cardiac and respiratory function and can cause neurotoxicity and respiratory paralysis and death in thirty minutes. The bite causes only minimal tissue damage. The Philippine cobra is capable of spitting their venom up to three meters.

The Philippine Cobra is called "ulupong" in Tagalog.


Contents

[edit] Identification

Fairly stockily built. Pattern: adults uniformly light or medium brown, occasionally some lighter variegations; juveniles dark brown, with lighter variegations, sometimes a dark band behind the throat. Scalation: 23-27 (usually 25) scale rows around neck, 21 (rarely 23) just ahead of mid-body; 182-193 ventrals, 36-49 subcaudals, basal pairs sometimes undivided.

[edit] Distribution

Philippine Islands: known with certainty from Luzon, Mindoro, Catanduanes and Masbate, likely to occur on other neighbouring islands. Records from the Calamianes group and Palawan require confirmation.


[edit] Habitat

Philippine Cobra’s habitat also include open fields, human settlements and dense jungle.


[edit] Diet

The snake feeds predominantly on small mammals. Rodents are preferred diet however they do feed on frogs, lizards, small birds and eggs.

[edit] Venom

Drop by drop, the Northern Philippine Cobra has the most potent venom of all the species in the Naja Family. The Venom is mainly composed of neurotoxins. The postsynaptic neurotoxins interrupt the transmission of nerve signals by binding to the neuro-muscular junctions near the muscles. The symptoms might include headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, dizzyness, collapse, convulsions. Particularly in children, collapse and convulsions may be the first evidence of envenoming, at least for certain species. It is often assumed that hypotension will occur in response to envenoming, but hypertension is also common and both tachycardia and bradycardia are reported. The victims die because of complete respiratory failure.

[edit] External links

1* LUTZ, M . (2006) Die Kobras des philippinischen Archipels - Teil I: Die Philippinen-Kobra, Naja philippinensis TAYLOR, 1922, SAURIA, Berlin, 28 (3): 31-37


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