Naja atra
Silhouette: V. Deepak · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The Chinese cobra (Naja atra), also called the Taiwan cobra, is a species of cobra in the family Elapidae, found mostly in southern China and a couple of neighboring nations and islands. It is one of the most prevalent venomous snakes in China, which has caused many snakebite incidents to humans.
Naja atra was first described by Danish physician, zoologist, and botanist Theodore Edward Cantor in 1842. The generic name naja is a Latinisation of the Sanskrit word nāgá (नाग) meaning "cobra". The specific epithet atra comes from the Latin term ater, which means "dark", "black", or "gloomy".
In Mandarin Chinese, the snake is known as Zhōnghuá yǎnjìngshé (simplified: 中华眼镜蛇, traditional: 中華眼鏡蛇, lit. "Chinese spectacled snake", i.e. Chinese cobra), Zhōushān yǎnjìngshé (舟山眼鏡蛇, lit. "Zhoushan spectacled snake", i.e. Zhoushan cobra) or, in Cantonese, faahnchaántàuh (飯鏟頭, lit. "rice paddle head"). In Taiwanese, the snake is known as pn̄g-sî-chhèng (飯匙倩/銃, lit. "rice paddle ?"), ba̍k-kiàⁿ-chôa (目鏡蛇, lit. "spectacled snake", i.e. cobra), or tn̂g-ām-chôa (長頷蛇, lit. "long-chinned snake").
This medium-sized snake is usually 1.2 to 1.5 metres (3.9 to 4.9 ft... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hangzhou Zoo | 🇨🇳 China |
No species of the same family or order lives in Hanoi, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Chinese Cobra sighting in Hanoi on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 5th most-seen of the 6 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Chinese Cobra in Hanoi on a given day, against under 5% in July and December–February, the lowest months. That is one of Hanoi's driest months, with about 80 mm of rain against 320 mm in August.
Between 8 and 11 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Chinese Cobra sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
Yes
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Chinese Cobra sightings, Hanoi has the highest daily chance: about 30%. Next come Taichung (Taiwan, about 20%) and Guangzhou (China, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Chinese Cobra is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Hanoi (10 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
