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King Cobra’s big secret is out… Indian scientist broke the 188 year old belief with 12 years of research

One of the most venomous snakes in the world, the King Cobra… is no longer just one species. Scientists have divided it into four different species. This new discovery is shocking and has revealed a big mystery. This research states that these four species are mainly found in Asia, maritime Southeast Asia, the Western Ghats of India and the northern island of Luzon in the Philippines.

This new discovery has been made by the team of Dr. P Gauri Shankar, who has been researching the King Cobra for the last two decades. Scientists at the Kalinga Center for Rainforest Ecology in Agumbe, Karnataka, after 12 years of research, have reported that the King Cobra is not one but four different species. This research lasted from 2012 to 2024, in which scientists studied in depth the anatomy and genes of the world’s largest venomous snake.

Which are these four species?

In this research, four species of King Cobra were identified, which are found in different places. The first species among these is ‘Ophiophagus Kalinga’, which is found in the Western Ghats of South-West India. It has less than 40 stripes on its body. The second species is ‘Ophiophagus Hannah’. This species is found in North and East India, Andaman Islands, East Pakistan, Indo-Burma, Indo-China and Thailand. It has 50 to 70 stripes on its body.

The fourth species does not have any stripes

The third species of King Cobra is named ‘Ophiophagus Bungarus’, which is found in the Malay Peninsula, Greater Sunda Islands and parts of Southern Philippines. It has more than 70 stripes on its body. The fourth species is ‘Ophiophagus Salvatana’ and it is found in Luzon in Northern Philippines. It does not have any stripes on its body.

No one has been able to prove it till date

Dr P Gauri Shankar, head of the research team, said that many people had speculated that there could be more than one species of King Cobra, but no one has been able to prove it till date. The research team took tissue samples of King Cobra from different places and collected their photographs. The team did in-depth research on many aspects like color, stripes, scales and body proportions.

In which areas was the research done

The research was completed from the foothills of the Himalayas and Western Ghats in India to the tropical and temperate areas of Southeast Asia as well as Indonesia and the Philippines. After the research, scientists have confirmed that King Cobra is not a group of the same species, but it is a mixture of many different species. 188 years ago, in 1836, for the first time, Danish zoologist Theodore Edward Cantor identified the species of King Cobra.

Separate plans for each species

Scientists say that there is a need to make a separate conservation plan for each species of King Cobra, because each species has its own needs. King Cobra has been placed in the ‘vulnerable’ category in the Red List of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Apart from this, it has also been included in the list of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). There is a big threat to their existence due to smugglers and hunters.