Cobra vs. Python: Who would win? : Greg Laden's Blog

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Cobra vs. Python: Who would win?

Posted on: November 8, 2009 6:26 PM, by Greg Laden

I can tell you which one I'd prefer to go up against. Below the bold because it is all squiggly and gross.

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I'm guessing that that was a king cobra (the one that eats other snakes). This is obviously an example of intelligent design: snakes are clearly designed to eat other snakes!

Posted by: The Science Pundit | November 8, 2009 7:08 PM

Correct, the narrator said that it's a king cobra, and the python is a reticulated python.

I liked his comment at the end: 'In the oppressive heat of the dry season, two giant snakes become one'.

I wonder, though, what would happen if the python was longer than the cobra and it didn't notice? Would it just sit around with half a snake sticking out of its mouth until the rest had digested a bit?

Posted by: Colin | November 8, 2009 7:36 PM

oddly, it made me think of the spaghetti scene in "Lady and the Tramp"

Posted by: peter | November 8, 2009 7:53 PM

I'll stick to Corn Pops

Posted by: NewEnglandBob | November 8, 2009 8:25 PM

When I saw the title on my Google Reader, I thought, "[Monty] Python vs. Cobra [from GIJoe]? Well, Cobra have guns, while Monty Python's got comfy chairs..."

Posted by: Umlud | November 8, 2009 10:12 PM

And here I thought this was going to be a post about programming.

Posted by: MPL | November 9, 2009 1:03 AM

Is this GI Joe Cobra vs. Monty Python? My money's on Python....

Posted by: IanW | November 9, 2009 6:50 AM

Unless the python can find a way to avoid the venom it isn't a contest. Its like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Posted by: ppnl | November 9, 2009 9:22 AM

ppnl: Are you sure for this case? There are snakes that appear to be immune to other snake's venom, and there are snake eating snakes that manage to eat poisonous snakes even if they are (maybe) not immune. (This whole area of research is pretty undeveloped as I understand it)

I voted for the cobra because they are very active and fast moving compared to pythons, in my personal experience. Given roughly equal size, I'd guess the cobra would out-move the python.

But the venom might be the key factor.

Posted by: Greg Laden | November 9, 2009 10:05 AM

If you look at the piece of the video that shows both snakes' head, before the cobra starts eating, you'll see the python was quite close to what it needed to do. It had the cobra gripped just a little too far behind the jaws, at least by that point. The cobra could still move its head around a bit. If the python had come upon it at another angle, one that didn't require it to coil by moving its body in front of the cobra's jaw, it might well have won.

In fact, given the tendency of even nonvenomous snakebites to become infected (as I know to my discomfort), the python might have had its revenge.

Posted by: Stephanie Z | November 9, 2009 11:43 AM

OK, I looked it up. This species of python tends to eat warm blooded things. This species of cobra tends to eat ... snakes.

(Or did they say snacks.)

"King cobra's genus name, Ophiophagus, literally means "snake-eater", and its diet consists primarily of other snakes, including rat snakes, sizeable pythons and even other venomous snakes (including kraits, cobras and smaller members of its own species)." (wikipedia)

Posted by: Greg Laden | November 9, 2009 11:52 AM

Sure looks as if the Cobra struck right away. That snake was hunting the python. Ewwwww, but strangely fascinating.

Posted by: Lynn Wilhelm | November 9, 2009 12:01 PM

There's a programming language called Cobra?

Posted by: hmd | November 9, 2009 1:06 PM