Cobras like milk but do not milk cows. 
In fighting mongooses, the cobra does not use the darting technique it 
employs against rodents. Instead it strikes from its reared position until 
it becomes exhausted. Then the mongoose feints with a bite to the snake’s 
tail. When the cobra lashes out in that direction, the mongoose leaps to its 
throat, securing a death grip. The mongoose is not immune to the cobra’s 
venom, but depends on its agility and thick fur to escape harm. Often, 
however, the mongoose will undramatically stand on the snake and, holding 
it down with its feet, bite through its back and neck. 
The cobra lays about twelve eggs, the size of a pigeon’s. Peafowl and 
jungle-cocks prey on the young cobras. 
In India many deaths result each year from the bite of cobras, though 
it is not known what percentage of the 20,000 annual fatalities from snake¬ 
bite can be attributed to this snake. The reasons for the high mortality are 
insufficient leg covering among the peasantry and ignorance as to the correct 
treatment of snake bites. A good serum for cobra bite is produced by the 
Haffkine Institute in Bombay, but generally the natives prefer to use 
“snake stones,” a light, porous application that sucks blood from the wounds 
and falls off when saturated. This treatment removes very little of the venom. 
The fangs of the cobra are not poison-coated, nor does it inject venom 
in the manner of the rattlesnake. When the cobra secures a bite, it twists its 
head to the right and then to the left, releasing muscles above each fang 
and permitting the poison to flow into the wounds. 
SPITTING COBRAS 
The spitting cobra, or black-necked cobra, is an African species, ranging 
from Upper Egypt through West Africa to the Transvaal. Seven feet in 
length and endowed with a large quantity of venom, it is one of Africa’s 
most dangerous snakes. When angered, it rises and with deadly marksman¬ 
ship ejects a spray of poison at its enemy’s eyes. It can spit as far as twelve 
feet, and as high as a man’s eye. If the spray is not washed off, blindness 
may ensue. The serpent can eject half a dozen jets of poison in quick 
cession, and in twenty-four hours the store of venom is replenished. 
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