Cobra

Cobra Temporal range: Miocene-Holocene
Indian cobra, Naja naja in a defensive posture
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Elapidae (with some exceptions) Laurenti, 1768

Cobra is the common name of various elapid snakes, most of which belonging to the genus Naja.^[1]

Biology

All of the known cobras are venomous and many are capable of rearing upwards and producing a hood when threatened.^[2]

Known cobras

All members of the genus Naja, the "true" cobras, rear and produce hoods.

Other "cobra" genera and species are as follows:

• The rinkhals, or ring-necked spitting cobra, Hemachatus haemachatus
• The king cobra, Ophiophagus hannah
• The two species of tree cobra, Goldie's tree cobra and black tree cobra
• The two species of shieldnose cobras, cape coral snake and Aspidelaps scutatus
• The two species of black desert cobra, desert black snake and Walterinnesia morgani, neither of which rears or produces a hood
• The so-called American cobra, the Eastern coral snake, which also does not rear or produce a hood

The false water cobra, Hydrodynastes gigas, is the only "cobra" which is not a member of the Elapidae. It does not rear, produces only a slight flattening of the neck, and is only mildly venomous.

Notes

1.  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cobra". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 613.
2. Two non-venomous species of snake, the hognose snake and the striped keelback, also rear and produce hoods but are not considered "cobras"; likewise, some venomous elapid snakes such as the black mamba are also capable of producing hoods but are not called "cobras".