African Snakes: Egyptian Cobra

This cobra is one of the largest of the cobra family to be found in Africa. It is also known as an asp, and is the snake that was famously believed to have been used by Queen Cleopatra to commit suicide after she learned of the supposed death of Mark Antony.Despite being known as the Egyptian Cobra, this cobra is found throughout regions of northern Africa including in the western regions such as Mauritania, northern Nigeria, Mali, parts of southern Morocco, Western Sahara, throughout Burkina Faso, even into the Central African Republic in spots down into the Congo basin, but also can be found as far away as in parts of Tanzania, Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and throughout the entire northern coast of the continent from Morocco, through Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. There have even been reports of it being found on the Arabian peninsula. The colours may vary, but typically Egyptian cobras feature a teardrop mark under its eyes. They are primarily brown, but some can come in varying shades and some with different types of mottling to their skin. However in northwestern and western Africa the species tends to be almost entirely black. This particular Cobra tends to make its home in a variety of habitats including agricultural fields, steppes, scrub brush, dry to moist savannahs and areas of arid to semi arid desert. It does however prefer to be near bodies of water. There have even been reports of these cobras being found swimming in the Mediterranean sea off the coast of Africa. The Egyptian Cobra can be found in homes and on farms, where they tend to be attracted to things like chickens and rats. The venom of this particular breed causes complete paralysis of the nervous system, starting with the muscles and eventually moving to more important functions such as the heart and respiratory system.