LOVE can really bite when you are a King Cobra and your prospective mate is the longest and heaviest snake currently residing in Australia, not to mention highly venomous. But it can deliver up to seven millilitres of the stuff in a single bite — enough to kill 20 people, or an elephant. The Australian Reptile Park, at Somersby north of Sydney, is the first zoo to import the magnificent snakes from Asia and this morning paired two of its 10 resident King Cobras as part of its captive breeding program.
It is the first time in four years since the zoo has attempted to breed the highly venomous species after successfully mating the same pair in Copulation can go on for up to an hour and, once complete, the female will ignore the male completely and keepers return him to his enclosure.
The charmer plays his pungi, swaying to the music, and the snake undulates with him, seemingly entranced. What happens is this: When the snake charmer takes the lid off the basket, the snake is thrust from darkness into light and rises up defensively, as it would in any threatening situation, fanning its hood.
The snake charmer begins to play his pungi, swinging the end in front of the snake. Perseverance is having a blast collecting specimens on the Red Planet. Agricultural runoff isn't the only thing polluting waterways worldwide. Knee-deep in the rising tide, a Tuvalu minister's COP26 speech makes a big impression.
Sign up to receive Popular Science's emails and get the highlights. Ask Us Anything.
0コメント