King cobra

This is a very long, fairly slender snake. Adults are brownish-yellow, olive-brown or dark brown. Most large adults are plain, but some keep narrow pale bands. The throat is paler and blends into the body colour without a sharp line. The best clue is the head: the top is covered in large shields, each edged in black.

When alarmed it can raise the front of its body high off the ground and spread a hood that is long and narrow rather than wide. Young king cobras look quite different from adults. They are dark with many thin, evenly spaced pale yellow bands.

Records go back to 1847, and most come from in and around the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, including MacRitchie, Upper Peirce and Mandai. It has also been seen around Bukit Timah, at Windsor Nature Park and in the mangroves of Sungei Buloh.

It is a strong swimmer. In Singapore it has been watched swimming in reservoirs and quarry lakes, including Upper Peirce Reservoir and Hindhede Quarry.

Its scientific name Ophiophagus means snake-eater. Singapore records show it taking gold-ringed cat snakes, dog-faced water snakes, shore pit vipers and even reticulated pythons. It also eats large lizards, and has been recorded eating a clouded monitor at night. King cobras will also attack each other. Two such attacks have been documented here, at MacRitchie in 2018 and at Windsor Nature Park in 2024.

King cobras hunt actively, by day and sometimes at night, and are often seen patrolling forest streams. In Southeast Asia they appear less defensive than king cobras in India. When threatened, an adult rears up, spreads its hood and gives a deep hiss that sounds almost like a growl.

In October 2018 a king cobra at Upper Peirce Reservoir was seen rising up to about 1 m out of the water to face a white-bellied sea eagle that swooped at it.

Like other king cobras, the female builds a nest, something almost no other snake does. She gathers fallen leaves into a mound, lays her eggs inside and stays close by to guard it. Females guarding eggs can be very defensive. The young hatch already venomous and fend for themselves straight away.

Yes. A single bite can inject a large amount of nerve-acting venom and can be fatal if not treated quickly. That said, king cobras in Singapore are rarely seen and usually move away from people. During the 2018 attack at MacRitchie, the snakes paid no attention to the people watching from the boardwalk.