King Cobra - no picture

[The Snark]

Had one cross the road in front of me today. Maybe visible for 2 seconds and gone. Definitely need a camera mounted on my head. Anyway, it was 8 foot or so and an odd color. The uniform golden bronze was quite a bit darker with a sort of dark gray green hue to it. Never seen that color before.
But as almost always when spotting the kings in the wild, they are so fast and lithe. The powerful body, that chunky blunt head, and their movements so deliberate, like in a rush to get to a meeting. Such beautiful amazing animals. So different from the dusty black laconic things seen in captivity. And I never see them with those lateral light colored bands in the wild. Anyone have any idea why?

 

[skippy]

no idea why =)

cool sighting though, where in thailand are you?

 

[The Snark]

no idea why =)

cool sighting though, where in thailand are you?

I'm in the hills about 20 km north east of Chiang Mai. They have been burning the hills, the underbrush and debris, which tends to move the wildlife down towards the populated areas this time of year. It's very similar to when there are brush fires in the mountains north of Los Angeles. I worked at a camp right against the mountains in Altadena and had a cougar and a bear come visiting after the fires. An uncomfortable moment now and then when I had to inform the inner city kids camping there that we had a visitor and please stay together in groups in the buildings at night. (and if they had to go out to make LOTS of noise to not startle the critters)