Cobras are smarter than people think

[redcarpet]

This pic is of a Naja haje going for a gap under a rack.It had to have seen the gap under the rack before it ran.She just wanted to hide rather than inject.Don't get me wrong she would bite,but I think it knew that it is safer to hide than try to inject.

This pic is not the best but it shows the speed of the wonderfull cobra
you can see me in the top right corner if you look really hard.This will show you that she didn't want me ,but rather get away.
prefiring to hide rather than inject

Sorry about the spelling,but I'm half a sleep!

[jay72]

I would say that most elapids (or snakes for that matter), if given an escape route would rather take that if given the chance. Even the larger King cobras that I have dealt with (once they are out of their enclosure and not being so defensive) would rather flee into a probagger or hidebox. This is how we can manipulate the snakes through their own behavior. Thats not always the case though. We had a Taipan that continued to make aggressive advances while I was attempting to get it under control. This same snake bit a handler at Zoological Imports in 2001.

Sloane Russeck