Forest Cobra, Kenya

The Forest Cobra (Naja melanoleuca) is the largest cobra in Africa. It can grow to around 3 metres (10 feet) long. It is an elapid – a snake with fangs.

The Forest Cobra is glossy black and cream, with black throat bars and blotches. Some are speckled brown, yellow, or tan.

It is found in western Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. It lives in forests and woodlands. It is also found along the coast of East Africa.

The Forest Cobra is terrestrial and semi-arboreal (it will climb trees sometimes). It is quick moving and alert. It shelters in holes, rock crevices, and amongst vegetation.

They prey on small rodents, such as small rats and mice, but also birds, lizards, eggs and other snakes.

It is not a spitting cobra.

Like other cobra species, the Forest Cobra is oviparous, which means that it lays eggs. Females lay 15-26 eggs.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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