Mongoose Mongooses are noted for their audacious attacks on highly venomous snakes, such as king cobras. The mongoose is a snake-killer by nature. These small mammals have some immunity to cobra venom, so they are one of the most successful animals that hunt cobra.
The hedgehog (Erinaceidae), the mongoose (Herpestidae), the honey badger (Mellivora capensis) and the opossum are known to be immune to a dose of snake venom.
The mongoose is known for its ability to fight and kill venomous snakes, especially cobras. Their specialised acetylcholine receptors render them immune to venom. A mongoose and snake fights stops traffic in this video.
Molecular biologist Sara Fuchs and her colleagues found that the acetylcholine receptor in mongooses--like that in the snakes themselves--is slightly mutated so that the venom simply bounces off the muscle cells, causing them no harm.
The Virginia opossum (pictured in Monterey Bay, California) has a natural immunity to snake venom.
The researchers found adaptations in Komodo dragon genes involved in coagulation that make these lizards immune from the venom anti-coagulant, protecting them from bleeding to death when attacked by another of their own species.
Mongooses have mutated cells that block the mambas' neurotoxins from entering their bloodstream. This makes them capable of surviving the venomous snake's deadly bite. (See how a mongoose fends off a lion.)
It's not impossible for a mongoose to get sick or even die from a cobra bite, but mongooses make a glycoprotein that binds to the protein in the venom so a moderate amount of snake venom won't hurt them.
Unfortunately, in the end, the python's power was no match for the cobra's venom. “It would kill the python pretty quickly,” Sheehy says.
For another epic battle, watch a mongoose take on a cobra. Snake eagles typically attack their prey from a perch, hitting it with considerable force and using their sharp talons to inflict damage. Yet the eagles are not immune to snake venom and rely on their speed and power to avoid bites.
Their venom is not the most potent among venomous snakes, but the amount of neurotoxin they can deliver in a single bite—up to two-tenths of a fluid ounce—is enough to kill 20 people, or even an elephant. King cobra venom affects the respiratory centers in the brain, causing respiratory arrest and cardiac failure.
A king cobra bite can kill a human in 15 minutes and a full-grown elephant in a few hours. What makes these cobras kings is not just their size, or their deadliness — after all, they don't eat humans or elephants — it is that they eat other snakes. Even deadly snakes like kraits or other cobras are prey.
The venom of a king cobra is strong enough to kill an elephant.
“And while only 31 per cent of dogs survive being bitten by an eastern brown snake without antivenom, cats are twice as likely to survive – at 66 per cent.” Cats also have a significantly higher survival rate if given antivenom treatment and, until now, the reasons behind this disparity were unknown.
The mongoose can withstand the lethal bite of the poisonous snake, and in 75 to 80 per cent of fights with cobras, the mongoose invariably wins. The Indian grey mongoose is famous for its love of battling and devouring venomous snakes like cobras.
Cone Snail
Only a handful of people have ever been stung, but, quite unfortunately, there is no antivenom.
The inland or western taipan, Oxyuranus microlepidotus, is the most venomous snake in the world, according to Britannica. Native to Australia, this snake has the deadliest venom based on median lethal dose, or LD50, tests on mice.
"This particular cobra was older and larger than the mamba," Charlotte Arthun explains over on the Marabata blog. "While the mamba put up a fight, continually striking at the cobra, the cobra won the battle with its superior size and strength, eventually eating the mamba."
An anaconda would win a fight against a king cobra. This outcome assumes that both of these creatures met in an open area that doesn't allow an ambush to happen.
The king cobra is the largest snake in the world and the Komodo dragon is the largest lizard. Both reptiles have very different styles of attacking prey. A Komodo dragon would overpower a king cobra in a fight.
Their resistance is to the a-neurotoxin in snake venom, specifically. Domestic pigs have a genetic mutation in their cell receptors that prevents binding of the a-neurotoxin, rendering the venom useless. The resistance doesn't occur in most pigs until they are adults, so small pigs are still vulnerable.
Do lions survive a cobra bite? Not usually but sometimes they can. It really depends on the amount of venom injected, and the size and health of the lion. If a cobra bite is able to kill a small or even medium size elephant (rare but possible) then a lion would be far more likely to die.
While they may not die from a black mamba bite, they will often lose consciousness for minutes after envenomation. Their prey may sneak away or bite again. Thus, the honey badger must finish the black mamba before succumbing to the venom for a short time.
The sheep's body creates antibodies to fight the poison. The antibodies are extracted from the sheep, purified and used to create CroFab, also known as Ovine. Previously, venom was injected into horses, and their antibodies were used for antivenin.
Predation. Adult mambas have few natural predators aside from birds of prey. Brown snake eagles are verified predators of adult black mambas, of up to at least 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in). Other eagles known to hunt or at least consume grown black mambas include tawny eagles and martial eagles.