DAILY TELEGRAPH (Sydney, Australia) 22 January 08 Cobra hatchlings birth a success (Brooke Newstead)

Cutest Baby Photo ever at URL below: New life ... a baby king cobra emerges from an egg with a true reptilian attitude.

The Australian Reptile Park near Gosford is now fit for a king - 15 of them to be precise.

The park has just welcomed its second batch of baby king cobras after launching its breeding program last year.

Park curator Craig Adams said eight adult king cobras had been imported from Singapore and the US in 2004 with the aim of breeding them to distribute to other parks and zoos.

The park successfully hatched 19 last year and although this year there were four less, Mr Adams said the number being bred was encouraging.

"Last year was the first time they had been bred in Australia, so we're really pleased with how the program is going," Mr Adams said.

"The status of king cobras is quite unclear - they've always been rare and their future is uncertain.

"And they're such a private species that it's very unclear about how many there are."

The reptile park will soon be offering visitors the chance to get a close-up view of the babies. Mr Adams said the snakes had been removed from their mother to eliminate the possibility of her eating them.

King cobras are the largest venomous snakes in the world, and one of the 20 most venomous snakes.

"At their full size the snakes can stand up to a human and look them in the eye, reaching a length of between 5m and 6m," Mr Adams said.
Cobra hatchlings birth a success

[ Show Entire Thread ]