The Strongest Lion

Chapter 60 King Cobra

Chapter Sixty: King Cobra

Chu Ye knew that from now on he had to rely on himself. Just as a person must rely on themselves, so too must a lion.

These days, the Jike Lions Pride continues to live a difficult life. For a pride with only two lionesses, raising eight cubs during the dry season is extremely challenging.

In this situation, Chu Ye knew he couldn't expect the two lionesses to bring him any good food every day; if he wanted to fill his stomach, he would have to hunt for himself.

"I'm six months old now, I've been weaned, and I'll have to support myself from now on." Chu Ye knew that he needed to find prey quickly and become strong as soon as possible. If he wasn't strong enough, he would only become someone else's prey.

Thinking about these things, Chu Ye decided that from now on he would go out hunting in the mornings. Regardless of whether the lioness could bring back food, he would definitely go out to find food nearby.

Now, the other lion cubs are just waiting for their mothers to bring them food; they almost never hunt themselves.

If lion cubs can stay in a pride, they can remain there until they are two years old before being expelled by the male lion. Only when the male lion leaves the pride and can live a nomadic life do the cubs begin to slowly learn to be independent.

When male lion cubs are in a pride, they almost never hunt. The lionesses have to hunt and provide for them.

But when the lion cubs reach the age of two, they must be driven out of the pride by the male lions. From then on, the lion cubs become true nomadic lions, and they must fend for themselves.

Chu Ye is only six months old now, far from being two years old. He doesn't need to worry about living the life of a nomadic lion in the future. He just needs to stay with the pride and find his own food when there's no other option.

That morning, Chu Ye went out hunting alone.

On this vast grassland, there are currently few large prey for Chu Ye to hunt. After all, Chu Ye cannot hunt particularly large animals. With its current size, it can only hunt animals of similar size to itself.

What should I eat today?

Chu Ye arrived at a thicket of bushes in the lion pride's territory. The thicket was quite dense, and Chu Ye felt relatively safe inside.

"I'll eat whatever I come across! Anyway, I'm still pretty strong; most prey can't beat me."

Chu Ye believed that with his abilities, there was no animal he was afraid of, as long as it wasn't a lion of his own kind.

Even venomous snakes that would frighten lions are nothing to Chu Ye. After all, he now possesses the ability to neutralize venom, so he can easily devour any venomous snake.

However, Chu Ye really didn't want to eat any poisonous snakes. After all, he was a little lion reborn from a human, and he still had some aversion to snakes.

However, after Chu Ye was reborn as a lion cub, he no longer felt particularly averse to snakes. After all, in the eyes of other animals, snakes were just another kind of animal.

Chu Ye walked through the thicket, but he didn't encounter any prey to hunt.

"Ugh, there's nothing here! Is it so hard for me to get something to eat?" Chu Ye felt that there was nothing to eat in this place.

Just as Chu Ye was thinking this, he suddenly felt something moving in the bushes in front of him.

"Huh! What's that? Could it be a little rabbit?" Chu Ye thought there would be a rabbit ahead, as he felt rabbit meat was quite delicious.

Thinking of this, Chu Ye immediately ran over, wanting to catch a little rabbit. But when he got there, he was dumbfounded.

"Damn, it's a poisonous snake."

Chu Ye saw that a black venomous snake was hiding in the grass ahead.

When the venomous snake saw Chu Ye, it suddenly raised its head, and the skin on both sides of its neck swelled up into two feather-like structures.

Upon seeing the venomous snake, Chu Ye's eyes widened in surprise.

"Damn, it's a cobra, and a king cobra at that." Chu Ye felt a chill run down his spine when he saw the venomous snake.

This is a king cobra, you should know.

King cobras prefer to live alone, hunting during the day and resting at night in rock crevices or tree holes.

Like other cobras, when threatened, the king cobra raises the front third of its body, opens its mouth to reveal its fangs, and stares at its opponent while keeping an eye on its surroundings.

Once a king cobra perceives itself in danger, it will attack without hesitation. It primarily preys on snakes and lizards, but also eats birds, bird eggs, and rodents.

King cobras typically feed on other snakes. They possess antivenom, so they usually survive being bitten by other venomous snakes.

Their diet includes pythons of suitable size, as well as other types of venomous and non-venomous snakes, such as cobras, kraits, silver kraits, and rat snakes. When food is scarce, they will even eat other members of their own species. Therefore, the king cobra is also known as the "snake nemesis".

King cobras are highly intelligent snakes. They hunt other snakes and can distinguish whether their prey is venomous. When hunting non-venomous snakes, king cobras do not readily use venom; they will simply bite and hold on, allowing their prey to struggle and resist until it dies before slowly swallowing it.

When hunting venomous snakes, it does not act rashly, but constantly provokes them. When the prey is finally provoked and attacks, the king cobra will dodge alertly. Finally, when the prey is exhausted and no longer willing to fight, it seizes the opportunity, bites the prey's head and neck, and releases venom to kill it.

King cobras are agile and can rotate their heads flexibly, allowing them to attack not only in the front, back, left, and right directions, but also vertically upwards to attack objects above their heads.

Once it bites something, it doesn't easily let go. The venom contains about 100 milligrams of dry toxin, while the average lethal dose is 12 milligrams. Within minutes of being bitten, the victim will experience swelling, nausea, abdominal pain, respiratory paralysis, speech impairment, coma, and other symptoms. Without timely drug treatment within half an hour of being bitten, death is certain.

The venom of the king cobra primarily contains neurotoxins, but also includes cardiotoxins. The toxins are composed of polypeptides and proteins.

During an attack, once the venom is injected into the victim's body, the toxin rapidly attacks the central nervous system, causing severe pain, visual disturbances, dizziness, drowsiness, and paralysis. The victim may go into shock due to cardiovascular collapse and ultimately die from respiratory failure and a weakened heartbeat. Clinical cases show that victims may also experience kidney failure.

Like other venomous snakes, the toxicity test results of king cobra venom vary in different toxicological studies because LD50 data can change with different injection and research methods.

The most frequently cited data are 1.7 mg/kg for subcutaneous injection, 1.31 mg/kg for intravenous injection, and 1.644 mg/kg for intraperitoneal injection in experimental mice.

Another study yielded a result of 1.93 mg/kg (subcutaneous injection) in five wild king cobras from Southeast Asia.

Studies have also shown that the venom of the Chinese king cobra is 0.34 mg/kg (intramuscular injection). The venom content may vary slightly between individuals from different regions.

A king cobra bite can be swiftly fatal. On average, it injects 200-500 milligrams of venom, with some cases releasing up to 7 ml. Victims often require large amounts of antivenom to counteract the venom and prevent further damage to their bodies.

Some even claim that the venom injected by a king cobra in one bite can kill an adult Asian elephant within 3 hours.

The mortality rate and speed of death after a bite are influenced by many factors, such as the amount of venom injected by the snake, the location of the bite, and the health condition of the victim. Furthermore, surveys conducted by different regional organizations may yield different results.

For example, while one website report mentions that king cobras usually inject only a small amount of venom that is not lethal, another snakebite case report published by a South Indian hospital shows that two-thirds of patients bitten by king cobras were injected with large amounts of venom, classifying them as "critical."

Chu Ye had also learned some about the formidable nature of the king cobra. After all, he had been a third-rate college student before, and he had some knowledge of venomous snakes.

When Chu Ye saw the cobra, he wondered if he should eat it.

But Chu Ye wondered if he was immune to the venom of this snake. After all, it was a king cobra, arguably one of the most venomous snakes in the world.

"Do I dare to eat this poisonous snake?" Chu Ye pondered this question as he looked at the snake.

The venomous snake, seeing that its opponent was a small lion, seemed to disregard Chu Ye.

"Hmph, you little punk, you dare eat me?! I think you'd better go cool off somewhere else! Or I'll bite you to death!"

King cobras are not to be trifled with; on this vast savanna, few animals dare to even consider attacking one.

This king cobra is a very large male, measuring over three meters in length and as thick as an egg, making it a truly enormous king cobra.

Looking at the enormous king cobra, Chu Ye couldn't help but swallow hard. After all, the two lionesses in Chu Ye's pride hadn't hunted any large prey for several days. Yesterday, they only brought back a small rabbit, not even enough for one male lion to eat, let alone the cubs.

Chu Ye didn't get to eat anything yesterday either; he could only watch as the lion ate the little rabbit.