The Caspian cobra is considered the most venomous cobra in the world
For most of the twentieth century it was filed as just another population of the Indian cobra. Genetic work later showed the Caspian cobra is its own species, split off about 3.21 million years ago, and toxin studies suggest it packs the most potent venom of any cobra.
The snake ranges across Central Asia, from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan through Afghanistan and northeastern Iran into Pakistan and the far northwest of India, making it the westernmost Asiatic cobra. It favours dry, rocky, scrubby foothills up to about 3,000 metres, but rarely strays far from water, swimming and climbing well. Its species name comes from the Oxus, the ancient name of the Amu Darya river. A German physician, Karl Eichwald, described it in 1831.
Adults usually measure between one and 1.4 metres and are plain brown or yellowish, without the spectacle markings on the hood that many cobras show. The hood itself is long and gradually tapering rather than oval. Young snakes are banded in dark and light, and some adults keep a few dark bands under the throat, which helps tell them from dark Indian cobras where the two overlap. Despite populations being separated by the Hindu Kush, the species is genetically uniform, hinting at a fairly recent spread across its range.
It avoids people when it can, but if cornered it rears, spreads its hood, hisses, sways and strikes repeatedly; it cannot spit venom. It hunts mostly by day, switching to evening and night in the heat of July, and eats small mammals, amphibians, birds, eggs and other snakes.
Its venom is dominated by short neurotoxins and is regarded as the most dangerous snakebite threat in Central Asia, with symptoms sometimes appearing within 15 minutes. Potency varies by region, with Iranian and Central Asian snakes more toxic than those from Pakistan and India. One enzyme purified from the venom, ribonuclease V1, has an unusual ability to cut up folded RNA and has become a standard laboratory tool in molecular biology.
Source: Caspian cobra
