Photo of Chinese cobra taken by Buzz reader in O Tau, Sai Kung
A villager in O Tau, Sai Kung, took this photo a few days ago of a big nasty in her garden. It’s a Chinese cobra, the most common of Hong Kong’s venomous snakes. These cobras hang around village houses because they like to eat rats and mice as well as other creatures such as lizards. They’re scary, but if you give them space, don’t attack or try to trap them, they will slither away because they are frightened of us. Research online and you will be told Chinese cobras are aggressive. This is bullshit. I have done 50 years of cross-country running in the bush with the Hash House Harriers. Nobody has even been bitten by a snake. Once an idiot friend I was with going down a stream bed saw a Chinese cobra ahead of us slithering away and began throwing stones at it. The cobra rose up and hissed at us. I told dingbat to leave it alone. He did. The snake went off about its business.
In Chinese these snakes are known as zhonghua yanjingshe, meaning “Chinese spectacled snake”. Some of them have a design like spectacles on the back of the head. About 5 ft long normally, they are so dark grey they are almost black. Their underbelly is pearl coloured. Permanently erect fangs can emit 250 mg of venom. This causes wound darkening, swelling, pain and necrosis, which can last for years. Fatalities have occurred after bites, but antivenom is widely available so deaths now are rare.
Four years ago SAI KUNG BUZZ published a summary of venomous snakes found in our area. Here for your information we run the link again.
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