India GO
Reptile · Naja naja
Indian cobra
नाग (nag)
IUCN LC · Least concernProtected under Indian law · II
India's best-known snake, identified by the hood it spreads when alarmed and the spectacle mark on the back of it.
How to recognise it
You are far more likely to see the shed skin or a picture of one. Cobras avoid people and move away; the hood is a warning display, not an attack.
Protection
Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Where to see it
Hyderabad
Hyderabad's volunteer Friends of Snakes Society rescued 13,028 snakes in 2024 alone, and the spectacled cobra is the snake it rescues most often, nearly half of all its rescues.
KBR National Park · Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park