Meet the largest king cobra ever recorded in history

The cobra is the largest venomous snake in the world, and despite being native only to the Asian continent, it has become a symbol of fear the world over.

However, the king cobra, despite its name, isn’t a “true” cobra: that title belongs to snakes of the genus Naja. Instead, it belongs to a different genus: Ophiophagus, meaning “snake eaters.” These snakes often prey on other serpents - including fellow king cobras.

They have, stored in their glands, neurotoxic venom, a deadly mixture of toxins capable of inflicting nerve damage, paralysis, and even cardiac failure, making king cobra bites among the deadliest in the natural world.

Unlike nearly all other snake species, the female king cobra is known to build a nest for her eggs, which are often camouflaged with plant matter and guarded until the offspring hatch.

But despite their fearsome reputation, these snakes are not inherently aggressive toward humans. Most recorded incidents result from unwitting encounters or self-defence; humans are not their preferred prey and they will simply hide from any two-legged freaks.

The largest king cobra ever recorded, according to the Guinness World Records, was found in April 1937, deep in the forests of Malaysia, when locals came across a king cobra that measured an astonishing 19.2 feet. Soon after, it was transported to the London Zoo, but history would prove unkind. Just a couple of years later, Europe was thrown into the chaos of the Second World War.

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As bombs rained down on London, zoos faced a dilemma: what if enclosures were damaged and dangerous animals — such as a 19-foot-long king cobra, for example — managed to escape into the city? To minimise the risk, officials made the tough decision to put down some of their most lethal residents. Among them was the record-breaking king cobra, silenced not by nature, but by human conflict.

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