Black-necked spitting cobra

Identification

The black-necked spitting cobra is a large cobra that rears up and spreads a hood when threatened⁴. In West Africa it is dark grey, black or brown above and below, with pinkish-red bands across the throat; in East Africa this dark colour is replaced by yellowish or pale brown². Its name nigricollis means “black neck” in Latin¹. Like other African spitting cobras, its fangs are adapted for spitting venom¹.

Adults are usually 100–150 cm long, and the largest recorded reached 220 cm².

Distribution

This cobra lives in the savannas of Africa from Senegal east to Kenya and south to Angola, Zambia and Tanzania¹. The Reptile Database lists 30 countries, from Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania in the west to Ethiopia and Somalia in the east and Angola and Zambia in the south¹.

Habitat

The black-necked spitting cobra is mainly a savanna snake². In the forest zone of southern Nigeria it is often found in strongly altered places, including suburbs and plantations⁵. As the rainforest there has been cleared, it has become common and widespread, even in mature secondary forest, while the forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca) has declined⁶. Around homes, poultry runs are a favourite haunt⁷.

Behaviour

This cobra is active both by day and at night, may travel some distance in search of food and climbs well⁴. When threatened it spreads its hood and spits venom, and if pressed it will bite⁴. Reported spitting distances are about 0.8–2 m³. In experiments with photographs, most black-necked spitting cobras spat at a moving human face rather than at a hand, and the venom landed between the eyes or on one eye³. Many bites happen at night inside homes while people are asleep².

Diet

The black-necked spitting cobra is a flexible hunter that takes prey on the ground, in trees and even in water⁵. In southern Nigeria, young cobras eat almost only lizards, mainly the common rainbow agama (Agama agama), while adults eat small mammals, birds and lizards⁵. It also eats frogs and other snakes, including puff adders⁴, and bird eggs¹. In southern Nigeria it eats much less at the height of the dry season⁶.

Reproduction

The black-necked spitting cobra lays eggs¹. A study in southern Nigeria found that its reduced feeding in the dry season affected adults and juveniles of both sexes alike, and could not be explained by breeding⁶.

Venom and medical significance

Spitting cobras, including this species, are among the commonest causes of serious snakebite in the West African savanna². Their bites cause severe local tissue damage rather than paralysis: there is immediate pain and spreading swelling, with blistering in about 60% and tissue death in about 70% of envenomed patients, which can lead to lasting ulcers, scars or loss of function². In a community study in Malumfashi, northern Nigeria, 5% of people bitten died and 19% of survivors had a lasting disability². Venom spat into the eyes causes intense pain, swollen eyelids and watering; in Nigeria, more than half of the people spat at had damage to the cornea, and infection of these injuries can cause permanent blindness^2,3.

Antivenoms that cover this species include EchiTAb-Plus-ICP, which was raised partly against its venom^2,8. Anyone bitten, or with venom in the eyes, should go to hospital immediately.

Conservation

The black-necked spitting cobra is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessed in 2021)⁹. It has spread into cleared forest areas in southern Nigeria, where it is now very common⁶.

Similar species

Further south and east, the Mozambique spitting cobra (Naja mossambica) is grey, olive or brown with dark-edged scales and a pale or salmon-pink belly with black bars and blotches on the neck and throat². The West African black-necked spitting cobra is dark grey, black or brown above and below, with pinkish-red throat bands². Other cobras in its range, such as the Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) and the forest cobra (N. melanoleuca), do not spit and their bites cause paralysis². These differences are not a safe basis for handling any snake. Keep your distance from every snake you cannot identify.

In captivity

The black-necked spitting cobra is dangerously venomous and is not suitable as a pet. Captive spitting cobras are a hazard even to experienced keepers: a snake handler in California was left with a mild, long-term loss of sight after an imported black-necked spitting cobra spat into his eye³.