Cape cobra

Physical features

• The Cape cobra is a highly venomous, medium-sized snake. It can grow up to 6 feet long.

• Cape cobras have many color variations, which can range from bright yellow to almost black with varying degrees of dark stippling and blotches.

• Cape cobras have a hood that is formed by expanding the ribs on the forward part of the body, just behind the head.

• Cape cobras are largely terrestrial, but are also very good climbers and are often found hunting in trees.

• Cape cobras are non-spitting cobras. Like other cobras, they have short fangs at the front end of the upper jaw that do not fold back against the roof of the mouth.

Diet: Carnivore

• Wild – Birds, lizards, other snakes, rodents, and frogs. Other snakes make up a very large portion of the wild diet.

• Zoo – Rodents, Birds

Reproduction

• Cape cobras are oviparous and during midsummer (December-January in the southern hemisphere) will lay between 8-20 eggs, depending on the size of the female. Eggs are laid in a rodent burrow, termite mound, or other moist location where they incubate for about 2-3 months.

• Newly hatched cape cobras are between 12-16 inches and are completely independent.

• New hatchlings have a dark band around their throat that is believed to allow them to mimic the spitting cobra. This is a defensive mechanism that gradually fades as they grow.

Interpretive Information

• The Cape cobra secretes neurotoxin venom that paralyzes prey. This venom is the most toxic of all African cobras.

• Some components of the Cape cobra’s venom have been used as a basis for human drugs that treat pain due to neural dysfunction.

• Cape cobras, like other cobras, are very fast-moving and active.

Updated July 2024