The mating ritual of King Cobra
King Cobras are peculiar snakes, and their mating ritual is also unlike that of any other serpent.
Learning about the mating ritual of any animal helps us study its species in-depth and understand its behaviour, for the study of mating rituals is the closest we can come to understanding the psychology of non-human species.
The King Cobra is the largest venomous snake in the world. Native to the dense forests of India and Southeast Asian, including Indonesia and the Philippines, this king of snakes can grow up to 18 feet, making it a fearsome creature. What makes it particularly dreaded and intriguing is that the King Cobra primarily feeds on other snakes, many of them venomous.
King cobra’s venom is not the most toxic among poisonous snakes, but they can inject enough neurotoxin in a single bite to lay to rest 20 people, or an elephant, if one is unlucky enough to face the wrath of these deadly creatures.
The mating ritual of these animals is also a deadly affair. It is literally a matter of life and death. This act of courtship that starts with the female enticing the male is accompanied with flicking of the tongue, nudging the body of the female, and body rubbing. The male dominates the female physically in order to mate with her.
In this dance of death, the female of the species tries to attract the male with a vibrant yellow scale design on her back. This yellow patch of scales is the “go-ahead” for the males in the species. Once noticed by a male, a female is persuaded for as long as it takes her to give in to the male. If two males are persuading the same female, there is a battle to the death or until one of them surrenders. The winner proceeds to mate with the female and may or may not eat the body of the defeated male, if the death of one of them occurs, which is not all that common, for once the winner manages to push the head of the vanquished to the ground, the defeated serpent concedes defeat and slithers away.
This performance, which starts with the female enticing the male, can very easily end with the female losing her life. In a few isolated incidences, it has been observed that the male tends to kill a female who has been fertilized before him.
The mating goes on for an odd hour or so after which the male leaves the female to look after the eggs. After a successful mating, the female lays anywhere between 20 to 50 eggs. The mother takes care of her eggs. She keeps them warm, protects them from predators, and incubates them for close to 45-80 days. King cobras are the only species of snakes that build a nest to protect their eggs.
After hatching, the hatchlings are on their own and the mother leaves the nest as early as she can so she does not end up eating her offspring. The pack of hatchlings also disperses immediately so that they do not become the first meal of their siblings. King cobra males are also believed to guard the area of the nest till the eggs hatch, revealing a nurturing side that is generally missing in snakes.
These magnificent beasts are in the middle of their mating season around mid-April. The king cobra stays loyal to its mate for the season and one male usually fertilizes only one female per season, making this a tale of deadly romance. The cost of new life can be the end of an old life. It all depends on the destiny of the female.
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