>>*LOL* there are a lot of discussion about this.
>>Some say Naja Haje ssp, others say Naja Nigricollis Nigricollis.
>>One person asked WW and he said Naja Haje, but agian even experts can be wrong, so I suppose we just have to agree that it is a Naja sp is a beautiful snake

Sorry mate, but Naja haje is VERY easy to identify and differentiate from Naja nigricollis - all you need is to pick up a book and find the very obvious characters that will differentiate them.

The easiest thing to look for is the row of small scales separating the eye from the supralabials, which are plainly evident in the photos. This is absolutely characteristic of the Naja haje group (i.e., N. haje, N. annulifera, N. anchietae).

Other distinguishing characters from N. nigricollis, all equally visible on the posted photos, are the number of supralabials (seven in N. haje, as is plainly visible in the photos - sorry diadophis; six in N. nigricollis; the third very high in N. haje, touching both preocular and nasal scale, smaller, low and not touching nasal in N. nigricollis) and the number of preoculars (one in N. haje, as in the photo, two in N. nigricollis).

Behaviour would also be a fairly reasonable clue - it is not very easy to p*ss of a large N. nigricollis without getting spat at, although it is of course possible.

Cheers,

WW
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