Chinese cobra

The **Chinese cobra** (*Naja atra*), also called **Guizhou spitting cobra** or **Taiwan cobra**, is a species of cobra in the Elapidae family, found mostly in southern China and a couple of neighboring nations and islands. The generic name *naja* is a Latinisation of the Sanskrit word  () meaning "cobra". The dorsal color of the Chinese cobra is usually brown, grey or black, with or without narrow, light transverse lines at irregular intervals which are especially prominent in juveniles.

There is some variation in the colour of the ventral body and tail: it may be white to gray, dark gray mottled with white, or blackish. The populations in different geographic regions of Taiwan reveal a unique composition of ventral colouration: the eastern population is exclusively blackish (100%), the central and southern populations are mainly white to gray (both 80%), and the proportions of blackish and white-gray morphs in the northern population are 60% and 30%, respectively. 

## Habitat
Its typical habitat is woodlands, shrublands, grasslands, and mangroves. This species is adaptable to a wide range of terrain including grassland plains, jungle, open fields and even heavily populated regions. As an adaptable species, it occurs in a wide variety of habitats across its range. It can be found in rice paddy fields in maritime lowlands to various types of montaine forests, though it avoids dark forest with closed canopy. In primary monsoon season and rain forests, *Naja atra* inhabits clearings and riverbanks. Higher population density is observed in the vicinity of human settlements, in secondary forests, and in rice paddy fields which are adjacent to forests. The species can be found anywhere from sea level all the way up to elevations of more than  above sea level.

## What it eats
The Chinese Cobra has a widely varied diet and it mainly preys on rodents such as mice and rats, frogs, toads and even other snakes. Mating and egg-laying periods are very extended.  The species has been seen mating in the mountains of the western Tonkin region, at elevations of  in the months of March through May. As recorded, gravid females will lay between 6 and 23 eggs sometime between May through to the end of July. The LD50 values of its venom in mice are 0.29&nbsp;mg/kg IV, and a range of 0.53&nbsp;mg/kg - 0.67&nbsp;mg/kg SC. The average venom yield from a snake of this species kept at a snake farm was about 250.8&nbsp;mg (80&nbsp;mg dry weight). Although this is not a spitting cobra, some rare individuals (mostly specimens from Guizhou Province) are capable of ejecting venom towards a threat within a distance of .

Local symptoms in victims caused by Chinese cobra are wound darkening, localized redness and swelling, pain, insensibility, and invariably blisters and necrosis. Necrosis is a serious problem in cases of cobra bite as it may persist for many years after the general recovery of the victim. 

Systemic symptoms may also occur, like discomfort in the chest, fever, sore throat, difficulty in swallowing, loss of voice, weak feeling in limbs, walking haltingly, general ache, lockjaw, and difficulty in breathing. Fatality sometimes happens. The antivenom is widely available and deaths are much rarer than they used to be.

## Reference
## Other websites 
*Video of a Chinese cobra in a tunnel
*Video of Chinese cobra found in Hong Kong
*Venomous Snakes of Southern China 
*CITES - NAJA SPECIES 
*Snakes of Taiwan (*Naja atra* - Chinese cobra)