N. Philippensis

[MedusaAthene]

I've been scouring the net for days trying to find pictures (at this point, even *one* picture!) of a certain snake for reference.

The Northern Philippine Cobra, aka Naja naja philippensis if we're going by the scientific name. Does anyone have or know of pictures of this snake on the net?

I've used multiple search engines, many many different keywords, and I've got nothin. King cobras galore, monacled, spitting cobras, anything but the one that I need.

I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks!

[kevyn]

I'm sure you've tried this but just thought I'd suggest it anyway, check venomousreptiles.org They have a photo section and it may be there.

[MedusaAthene]

Yeah, I have searched their photo album, but just the Elapidae sections, I'm going through some of the other field and show albums etc just in case a philippine cobra is hiding in one of those.

Thanks for the reminder tho!

No luck so far...

[kevyn]

Yeah, I have searched their photo album, but just the Elapidae sections, I'm going through some of the other field and show albums etc just in case a philippine cobra is hiding in one of those.

Ya I figured as much, sorry.

[MedusaAthene]

Its okay, I appreciate you giving it a shot :) I may have to bite the bullet and make the pilgrimage to the library :P

[lydhagen]

Naja phillipinensis is a really rare cobra in captivity, but also in the wild. Little is written about it, and there is hard to find pics on the internet, because there is'nt plenty of them.

Wolfgang Wusterhas written a bit about it at his cobra page :http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/Taxa/AsNaja.htm

And you can also find a little bit in the book "Fascinating snakes of southeast Asia - An introduktion" By Francis Lim Leong Keng and Monthy Lee Tat-Mong

Is it anythiong special you want to know about it? Maybe I can help you out?:cool:

Cheers

[MedusaAthene]

I'm mostly interested in it's behavior and especially in seeing what it looks like. I've kind of guessed at it's rarity after trying to find stuff on the internet :P

Anything and everything is helpful! :) I'll check those out, and anything you can advise is good. Are they aggressive? I've read somewhere that they're the most poisonous of the cobras, is that true? What are their mating habits like? What seperates them from other Asian cobras? You name it :)

I have seen that one site you linked too, and it has a good desc of the coloration but I'd still like to find a photo somewhere. I would pick a rare snake to obsess on. ;P

I found one pic, but it's massively unhelpful. All you really see is the guy. I was so excited, then he didn't have any other pictures or even a close up of that one! Heavy sigh. But I'm not giving up :)

[lydhagen]

The adult phillipine cobra is yellowish to olive brown with an underside that is yellowish white to cream in colour. There is no evidence of any other body markings in the adult N. phillipinensis though the young are dark brown to black with heavy reticulations of a light olive yellow in sharp contrast, and their underside is dirty, light olive in colour.

The Phillipine cobra grows to about 1 meter in length, and feeds on amphibians, other snakes and probably small mammals. About 12 eggs are laid per clutch, wich hatch after an incubation period of about 50 days. Both the young and adoult snakes posess potent venom and are said to probably couse more human deaths then any other venomous snake in the Phillipines.

That is what the book "fascinating snakes of southeast Asia" says about N. phillipinensis.

I would say that N. phillipinensis has about the same habitats as other asian spitters, such as N. siamensis, N. sputatrix and N. sumatrana. I dont believe that they are the most venomous of cobras, and if you have the size in mind, you can probably figure out that it hasnt a great big venom yeild. This is only my personal thoughts, because I dont know as much as I would like to know about them, because they are so rare (in captivity).

Hope it helped a little, Cheers!
Emil

[MedusaAthene]

Very helpful!

The book's description is more helpful than the sites, more detailed, and I hadn't found anything about what they eat or eggs in a clutch anywhere else. :) Thank you!

I still want to see one, but I'm less frantic about it now ;) Research research research.