r/interesting 4d ago

NATURE Indian man catching a king cobra

10.8k Upvotes

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u/Short-Horse-1069 4d ago

He's not winging it though. This approach is based in some solid knowledge.

He's perhaps a bit fidgety and would have been successful at the very first attempt if he didn't panic. But, he's also dealing with the world's largest venomous snake, in the field, in a cramped space in less than ideal conditions and the sped up video does him absolutely no favours.

Is he the best? No.

Is he good? Debatable.

But does he know what he's doing? Yes.

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u/gandhishrugged 4d ago

That cobra is chill too. It's such an interesting snake compared to all the other venomous snakes.

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u/fly_tomato 4d ago

Being big tends to make animals less wary, the others probably need to compensate

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u/dr_wtf 4d ago

That's why you see many snakes in Ferraris and Boeing 747s, whereas the King Cobra is happy with a plastic pipe and burlap sack.

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u/iDesygner 4d ago

Underrated comment

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u/davidjschloss 4d ago

A lot of people try to compensate for a snake that’s too small.

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u/Previous-Gift5801 4d ago

we have to be good and shit

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u/DrowAboveground 4d ago

Tell that to any moose. They forgot to get more chill after they broke 1200lbs

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u/LunchboxSuperhero 4d ago

Slight caveat: king cobras aren't true cobras, but they do eat them.

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u/Friendly_Collar6975 4d ago edited 4d ago

Didn't know this, thanks for sharing. TIL that split was proposed in 1864 (Günther) and finalized in 1945 (Bogert). Before that, King Cobra was in genus Naja (true cobras); was moved to its own genus, Ophiophagus ("snake-eater", as mentioned). In 2024, genetic studies revealed that Ophiophagus hannah represented 4 distinct species, so O. bungarus, O. kaalinga, and O. salvatana were added to the genus

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u/ArtIsAwesome3 3d ago

Ophiophagus (literally snake eater) hannah of the elapidae family. There's an exotic pet store not far from me, the owner had one, aptly named Elvis. Snake passed away a few years ago but he was a sight to see. He would roar instead of hiss, and I was like "do they all do that?" and the owner was like "King Cobras? Yeah, they roar instead of hissing."

I'm glad you pointed it out that king cobras aren't true cobras, people think all snakes kinda look the same and thus are all the same, when, for a creature with no facial expression, limited to no eyelids, no limbs with which to express themselves with, they are soooo diverse. Sorry, I had to nerd out, I appreciated your comment so much.

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u/velvet_wavess 4d ago

I think I've seen him in another video catching a cobra, so he must be a professional.. otherwise his place is swarmed with cobras, dunno

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u/thecashblaster 4d ago

shouldn't he wear some kind of fabric that the snake can't bite through or am I overthinking this?

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u/No_Entertainer_226 4d ago

He knows the risk it's the better off between man and the serpent and the better prevailed here 👍

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u/subtotal33 4d ago

He should have a hook. It's really dangerous to catch a snake without one.

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u/WandaLovingLegend 3d ago

I am sure you're a nice fellow, but I am just imagining a neck beard who hasn't touched grass in a year sipping Mountain Dew saying is he the best? No. Is he good? Debatable.

Lmao just curious but do you have like snake handling experience or something that qualifies you to debate this good sir?

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u/Anfins 4d ago

No part of this gif is giving me the impression that this guy is panicking. That’s an insane characterization.

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u/Fluid_Blackberry213 4d ago

Haha agree. The dude has a smile on his damn face after the cobra snaps at him. 🤣

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u/Loud_Ad_2634 4d ago

So technique wise, when and how do you swap the short pipe for the long one?

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u/Ornery_Buy3880 4d ago

Back up tube, probably for some Flintstones level of snake smacking if needed im sure

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u/Loud_Ad_2634 4d ago

But how? The video starts with the snake going into the smaller tube then it cuts to the end with a longer tube. You can’t just swap out a pipe that’s halfway down a snake. He’d have to do all that over again w a longer tube.

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u/AdrienOG 4d ago

My guess is that most of the tube is hidden in the bag during the first part of the video. As the snakes goes in, it pushes the bag revealing more tube length.