Philippine Cobra Essay

The Northern Philippine Cobra (Naja philippinensis) is a very toxic snake native to the Philippines. They are found in Luzon, Mindoro, Catanduanes and Masbate islands. Its average length is 1.70 m. Populations from Mindoro Island are known to be up to two 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 20-23 scale rows around the neck and 21 just above the middle part of the body. They prey upon mice, frogs and small mammals. The female lays eggs in clutches of 10-20 with an incubation time of 60-70 days (Taipan, 2012). A group of Filipinos conducted an investigation on the mortality from a Philippine cobra bite among Filipino rice farmers. Village records in one area were examined; a careful survey was also conducted in two additional areas among inhabitants at varying risk for snakebite. The death rate from cobra bite was estimated to be as high as 107.1 deaths per

With nearly 3,000 species of snake in the world, there's assured to be a wide variety of hunting methods among them. But one segment of cobras has a particularly interesting way of catching a meal; they use their tails as bait. The technique is a form of “aggressive mimicry”, called caudal luring — when a species uses part of its own body allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host. The body part snakes have most readily available is the ends of their tails. Some use their tails to look like worms, luring lizards close enough so the snake can strike. Others use their tails to look like spiders to trap birds into striking distance. It's even suspected that some snake species use their tails to lure insectivorous mammals such as mice (Heimbuch,