Wow! Amazing photos! I stepped on one of those, about same size, near the tippy end of his tail long ago in Cambodia. Luckily, he was as scared of me as I was of him. He took off one way, and I the other. They are awesome snakes. Thanks for posting!
NOPE!
I was with the largest King Cobra in the US a few years back. Snaky Steve had a snake show and they were all hot. I have some photos of him in the snake bus playing with the snake with his snake rods or whatever they use. 17 foot long—so a little more than three meters. Thankfully I had zoom. I wasn’t going to get on top that critter. Didn’t tell the wife...she would have killed me if she found out I was playing with cobras.
But it is the Woodland Cobra that usually kills the handlers. I gotta a great story to tell one day about all of that...but that is for another day.
Don't pet the bison.
Swingin'! Strikes without warning (the next morning).
Liberty in Bangkok Thailand 1973, the taxi driver I hired for the 5 days asked if I wanted to go see cobra mongoose fights. Never heard of them, I asked what they are like. He says they are very illegal in Thailand bec both are protected animals. But they occur bec there are large bets on how many cobra strikes mongoose will take before he shreds the cobras head.
10am the next morning I left for the fights w 3 others at same hotel. Already drank a liter of Thai beer when driver arrived, burned some Thai stick during the taxi ride, he explained where he would be parked when the fights are over. Couldn’t go in w us because admission was big$$$. This guy was thrilled when we offered to buy his ticket. Turned out to be a great decision.
This was the best 3 hours of entertainment, sans sex, I had in my life. Driver explaining all the action and customs of the fights, etc. Mostly wealthy and very wealthy Thais, a couple groups of German soldiers, 2 Brit or Aussie officers and us. Prob 80 people. As long as you were placing bets, beer and buddha was, LOL, complimentary.
In short order, I was yelling Thai slogans for the mongoose or cobra depending on how I bet. And screaming Thai insults at the fight managers when the mongoose started to slow from multiple cobra strikes.
BTW, this was a complete blood sport, the cobras always lost, but according to an officer, the mongooses always died within hours. They served fried and raw sauteed cobra dishes during the fights w huge bowls of cooked rice and veggies.