Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Javan Spitting Cobra
A dark, glossy spitting cobra endemic to Java, Bali, and nearby Indonesian islands, closely related to the equatorial spitting cobra.
Black Desert Cobra
A uniformly black desert elapid of the Middle East and North Africa, adapted to arid and sandy habitats.
Banded Water Cobra
A large, semi-aquatic African cobra of the Congo Basin, distinguished by bold banding and a strongly aquatic lifestyle centered on rivers and lakes.
Black Tree Cobra
A slender, arboreal West African forest cobra closely related to Gold's tree cobra, marked by its uniform blackish coloration.
False Water Cobra
A large, aquatic South American colubrid capable of flattening its neck into a cobra-like hood when threatened.
Indochinese Spitting Cobra
A mottled gray-and-black spitting cobra common across mainland Southeast Asia, frequently encountered in and around rural villages.
Storm's Water Cobra
A large, strongly aquatic cobra of Central African rivers and lakes, named for herpetologist Storm and adapted for a semi-aquatic lifestyle.
Mozambique Spitting Cobra
A medium-sized spitting cobra of southern and East Africa.
Nubian Spitting Cobra
A moderately sized spitting cobra of the Sahelian and Nile Valley regions of northeastern Africa, described to science relatively recently.
Black Spitting Cobra
A uniformly glossy black spitting cobra found in the arid western regions of southern Africa, once considered a color form of the zebra spitting cobra.
Mandalay Spitting Cobra
A little-studied spitting cobra restricted to the dry central plains of Myanmar, described as a distinct species in the early 2000s.
Black-Necked Spitting Cobra
A widespread and highly adaptable African cobra.
West African Brown Spitting Cobra
A small brown spitting cobra of the West African Sahel.
Sundevall's Garter Snake
A small, secretive African garter snake with a banded pattern, related to cobras, with a reclusive, burrowing lifestyle.
Gunther's Garter Snake
A small, secretive East African garter snake, part of the elapid genus Elapsoidea, with burrowing habits.
Cape Coral Snake
A small, brightly banded burrowing elapid of arid southern Africa, known for its bold red-and-black or coral pattern.
Moila Snake
A robust, fast-moving desert snake of North Africa and Arabia, known as the 'false cobra' for its hood-flattening threat display.
Eastern Montpellier Snake
A large, fast-moving snake known for raising its head cobra-like when threatened, found across the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.
Desert Black Snake
A glossy black elapid of arid Middle Eastern deserts, closely related to cobras.
Shield-Nosed Snake
A small, thick-bodied elapid of southern Africa named for its enlarged, shield-like rostral scale used for burrowing.
Rinkhals
A distinctive southern African elapid, related to but taxonomically separate from true cobras, known for feigning death and giving birth to live young.
Eastern Hognose Snake
A theatrical colubrid famous for flattening its neck like a cobra and playing dead when threatened.
Death Adder
A short, ambush-hunting elapid that resembles a viper in shape and behavior despite belonging to the cobra family.