Naja facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Naja Temporal range: Miocene-Holocene
Indian cobra (Naja naja), the genera species typica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Elapidae
Genus:	Naja Laurenti, 1768
Type species
Coluber naja Linnaeus, 1758

Naja is a group of venomous snakes often called "true cobras." These snakes are well-known for their ability to raise the front part of their body and spread their neck ribs to form a "hood." You can find different types of Naja cobras across Africa, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. While other snakes like the king cobra and rinkhals are also called "cobras," they are not part of the Naja group. They belong to their own separate snake families.

Not long ago, there were about 20 to 22 known species in the Naja group. However, scientists have studied them more closely. A big change happened in 2009, and now the Naja group includes 38 different species!

Indian cobra (Naja naja) spreading its hood.

A close-up of a Naja melanoleuca head showing (A) the fangs and (B) the venom gland.

What's in a Name?

The name Naja comes from the ancient Sanskrit word nāga. This word simply means "snake." So, when you say Naja, you're basically saying "snake" in an old language!

How They Look

Naja snakes come in different sizes, but most of them are quite slender. Many species can grow to be about 1.84 m (6.0 ft) long. Some of the biggest cobras, like the forest cobra, can even reach lengths of around 3.1 m (10 ft). All Naja cobras have a special way of making themselves look bigger and scarier to anything that might try to harm them. They lift the front part of their body off the ground and flatten their neck into that famous "hood."

About Their Venom

All types of Naja cobras have venom that can be very dangerous to humans. Most of their venom is neurotoxic, meaning it affects the nervous system. This can cause muscles to become paralyzed. Many cobras also have venom that is cytotoxic, which can cause swelling and damage to body tissues. Some even have venom that affects the heart.

Spitting Cobras

Some Naja species are known as spitting cobras. They have a special way of using their venom. Instead of just biting, they can squirt their venom forward from their fangs. This is mostly a defense mechanism. They aim for the eyes of a threat. If the venom gets into someone's eyes, it can cause a lot of pain and even temporary or permanent blindness if it's not washed out right away.

Scientists think that cobras might have developed this "spitting" ability around the same time that early humans and chimpanzees started walking upright. This could be because early humans, being bipedal and using tools, might have seemed like a bigger threat, leading cobras to evolve a new way to defend themselves from a distance.

Most Potent Venom

The Caspian cobra (N. oxiana) from Central Asia is considered the most venomous Naja species. Its venom is extremely powerful. The Philippine cobra (N. philippinensis) also has very strong venom. Both of these species can cause serious problems very quickly after a bite, sometimes even in as little as 30 minutes.

Cobras are a big concern for health in the areas where they live because they cause many snake bites. Luckily, about 30% of cobra bites are "dry bites," which means no venom is injected. Even when venom is injected, medical treatment, especially with antivenom, can help many people recover. However, the type of cobra and how severe the bite is can change how well a person recovers. For example, the Caspian cobra's venom is very complex and can cause a lot of tissue damage, making it harder to treat.

Family Tree of Cobras

Scientists use special studies to understand how different cobra species are related to each other. They've found that some groups of snakes that used to be in their own separate families, like Boulengerina and Paranaja, are actually very closely related to Naja cobras. Because of this, these groups are now included within the Naja family.

Scientists have also divided the Naja genus into four main groups, or "subgenera," to help organize them:

• Naja (for Asian cobras)
• Boulengerina (for African forest, water, and burrowing cobras)
• Uraeus (for the Egyptian and Cape cobra group)
• Afronaja (for African spitting cobras)

This helps scientists understand the different types of cobras better and how they evolved.

Species of Naja Cobras

Here is a list of the different species within the Naja genus:

Image	Species	Authority	Subsp.!bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Common name	Geographic range
	N. anchietae	Bocage, 1879	0	Anchieta's cobra (Angolan Cobra)	Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, eastern Zimbabwe
	N. annulata	(Buchholz and Peters, 1876)	1	Banded water cobra	Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, and the province of Cabinda in Angola
	N. annulifera	Peters, 1854	0	Snouted cobra	Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe
	†N. antiqua	Rage, 1976	0	Moroccan cobra	Miocene-aged strata of Morocco
	N. arabica	Scortecci, 1932	0	Arabian cobra	Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
	N. ashei	Wüster and Broadley, 2007	0	Ashe's spitting cobra (giant spitting cobra)	southern Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, eastern Uganda
	N. atra	Cantor, 1842	0	Chinese cobra	southern China, northern Laos, Taiwan, northern Vietnam
	N. christyi	(Boulenger, 1904)	0	Congo water cobra	the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), the Republic of Congo, and the province of Cabinda in Angola
	N. guineensis	Broadley, Trape, Chirio, Ineich &Wüster, 2018	0	Black forest cobra	Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo
	N. haje	Linnaeus, 1758	0	Egyptian cobra	Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt
	†N. iberica	Szyndlar, 1985		Spanish cobra	Miocene-aged strata of Spain
	N. kaouthia	Lesson, 1831	0	Monocled cobra	Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, southern China, eastern India, Laos, northwestern Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, southeastern Tibet, Vietnam
	N. katiensis	Angel, 1922	0	Mali cobra (Katian spitting cobra)	Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Gambia, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo
	N. mandalayensis	Slowinski & Wüster, 2000	0	Mandalay spitting cobra (Burmese spitting cobra)	Myanmar (Burma)
	N. melanoleuca	Hallowell, 1857	0	Forest cobra	Angola, Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria
	N. mossambica	Peters, 1854	0	Mozambique spitting cobra	extreme southeastern Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, northeastern Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania (including Pemba Island), Zambia, Zimbabwe
	N. multifasciata	Werner, 1902	0	Many-banded cobra	Cameroon, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Gabon
	N. naja	(Linnaeus, 1758)	0	Indian cobra (spectacled cobra)	Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
	N. nana	Collet & Trape, 2020	0	Dwarf water cobra	Democratic Republic of Congo
	N. nigricincta	Bogert, 1940	1	Zebra spitting cobra	Angola, Namibia, South Africa
	N. nigricollis	Reinhardt, 1843	0	Black-necked spitting cobra	Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) (except in the central region), Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Somalia, Togo, Uganda, Zambia
	N. nivea	(Linnaeus, 1758)	0	Cape cobra (yellow cobra)	Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa
	N. nubiae	Wüster & Broadley, 2003	0	Nubian spitting cobra	Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Niger, Sudan
	N. oxiana	(Eichwald, 1831)	0	Caspian cobra	Afghanistan, northwestern India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
	N. pallida	Boulenger, 1896	0	Red spitting cobra	Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania
	N. peroescobari	Ceríaco, Marques, Schmitz & Bauer, 2017	0	São Tomé forest cobra, cobra preta	São Tomé and Príncipe (São Tomé)
	N. philippinensis	Taylor, 1922	0	Philippine cobra	the Philippines (Luzon, Mindoro)
	†N. romani	Hofstetter, 1939	0	†European cobra	Miocene-aged strata of France, Germany, Austria, Romania, and Ukraine
	N. sagittifera	Wall, 1913	0	Andaman cobra	India (the Andaman Islands)
	N. samarensis	Peters, 1861	0	Samar cobra	the Philippines (Mindanao, Bohol, Leyte, Samar, Camiguin)
	N. savannula	Broadley, Trape, Chirio & Wüster, 2018	0	West African banded cobra	Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo
	N. senegalensis	Trape, Chirio & Wüster, 2009	0	Senegalese cobra	Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal
	N. siamensis	Laurenti, 1768	0	Indochinese spitting cobra	Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam
	N. sputatrix	F. Boie, 1827	0	Javan spitting cobra	Indonesia (Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, East Timor)
	N. subfulva	Laurent, 1955	0	Brown forest cobra	Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
	N. sumatrana	Müller, 1887	0	Equatorial spitting cobra	Brunei, Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo, Bangka, Belitung), Malaysia, the Philippines (Palawan), southern Thailand, Singapore

• Not including the nominate subspecies

^† Extinct
^T Type species

See also

In Spanish: Naja para niños