A king cobra bite -- and a scientific discovery
1,931,257 views | Gowri Shankar • TED Fellows: Shape Your Future
A king cobra has enough venom to kill 10 people in a single bite. Recounting his near-death experience after being bitten by one of these majestic yet deadly snakes, conservationist and TED Fellow Gowri Shankar shares the epiphany he had when the antivenom failed: there's more than one unique species of king cobra.
A king cobra has enough venom to kill 10 people in a single bite. Recounting his near-death experience after being bitten by one of these majestic yet deadly snakes, conservationist and TED Fellow Gowri Shankar shares the epiphany he had when the antivenom failed: there's more than one unique species of king cobra.
This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.
To support Gowri Shankar's projects, please write to gowrishankar.pogiri@gmail.com.
About the speaker
Gowri Shankar educates Indians on the importance of the king cobra, a feared, maligned and now threatened reptile species.
NatGeo Wild and Smithsonian, 2018 | Watch
Cobra King
This documentary on NatGeo Wild and Smithsonian channels showcases the life and breeding biology of king cobras, along with the reverence for these snakes by the people of Malnad (Agumbe, Karnatka, India).
National Geographic, 2010 | Watch
Secrets of the King Cobra
This documentary on National Geographic showcases the first-ever radio telemetry study done on a king cobra in India. It reveals unknown facets of a king cobra's life and offers fresh perspectives on the need for research and conservation of this iconic species.
Tom Charlton | Natural History Publications (Borneo), 2018 | Book
King Cobra: Natural History and Captive Management
Among the first of its kind, this book offers insights into the natural history of king cobras. The book is replete with photographs highlighting all aspects of a king cobra's life. It also offers notes on captive management of king cobras.
Ashok Captain and Romulus Whitaker | Westland/Draco Books, 2016 | Book
Snakes of India: The Field Guide
A comprehensive field guide for anyone interested to learn about the snakes found in India. It serves an enthusiast as much as it does a serious herpetologist.
Gowri Shankar, et al. | Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2021 | Article
"King or royal family? Testing for species boundaries in the King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor, 1836), using morphology and multilocus DNA analyses"
This paper announces the discovery of four species of king cobras — against the one species, as believed for the last 185 years.
Gowri Shankar, et al. | Hamadryad, 2013 | Article
"A preliminary study on translocation of 'rescued' King Cobras (Ophiophagus hannah)"
This paper talks about the deleterious effects of long-distance translocation of king cobras and highlight the scale of snake translocation problem in India.
Gowri Shankar, et al. | Hamadryad, 2013 | Article
"Factors influencing human hostility to king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah) in the Western Ghats of India"
This paper investigates people's perceptions toward king cobras in the tropical rainforests of the Western Ghats eco-region of southern India.
Gowri Shankar, et al. | Hamadryad, 2013 | Book
"King cobra, Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor, 1836) encounters in human-modified rainforests of the Western Ghats, India"
This paper investigates the capture and relocation of 106 king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah) from human settlements. It reports on their morphology, circumstances and possible reasons for their entering human settlements.
Learn more
This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.
To support Gowri Shankar's projects, please write to gowrishankar.pogiri@gmail.com.