Page 9 - King Coba

Cobra Venom Packs a Punch
If the king cobra’s warning signs don’t work, it defends
itself with its deadly bite. This snake’s fangs are
almost 1/2 in. (12.7 mm) long, and is venomous.
That means it has special saliva, or spit, called venom that gets injected
through its fangs like a needle when it bites its
prey. The cobra’s venom can kill a human in
fifteen minutes, or a full-grown elephant in a matter of hours!
Bites Don’t Bother This King
The king cobra hunts down and eats other snakes. But what happens if one of its snake snacks fights back? As it turns out, the venom of most other snakes doesn’t affect the king cobra. Scientists found out that over time, the cobras were not hurt or killed by the venom
of the other snakes they hunted.
This happened often enough over a long period of time that the ability became part of their
DNA, or genetic code.
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