African cobra
Naja pallida Boulenger, 1896
Status not recordedsnakes
The African cobra (Naja pallida) is a species in the family Elapidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 8.79 kg and live up to 20.2 years.
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Quick facts about the African cobra
- Weight
- 8.79 kg
- Length
- up to 1.5 m
- Lifespan
- 20.2 years
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 30 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grassland, shrubland
- Egg incubation
- 80.5 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 10.5 – 14.5
- Reproduction
- Eggs
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrial
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the African cobra live?
Not recorded
Is the African cobra endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the African cobra classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyElapidae
- genusNaja
- SpeciesNaja pallida Boulenger, 1896
Synonyms Naja nigricollis pallida
Other names and names in other languages (14)
- Red spitting cobraEnglish
- الناشر الأحمر البصَّاقArabic
- kobra červenáCzech
- ngulukuTaita
- Rote SpeikobraGerman
- Cobra escupidora rojaSpanish
- SylkeväpunakobraFinnish
- Cobra cracheur rougeFrench
- vörös köpködőkobraHungarian
- Cobra sputatore rossoItalian
- czerwona kobra plującaPolish
- Красная плюющаяся кобраRussian
- Кобра червона плюючаUkrainian
- 紅射毒眼鏡蛇Chinese
Relatives of the African cobra
Other species in the same genus Naja.

Indian cobra
Naja naja

Egyptian cobra
Naja haje

Forest cobra
Naja melanoleuca

Black-necked spitting cobra
Naja nigricollis

Cape cobra
Naja nivea
Oxus cobra
Naja oxiana
CompareAfrican cobra vs Indian cobraAfrican cobra vs Egyptian cobraAfrican cobra vs Forest cobraAfrican cobra vs Black-necked spitting cobra
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the African cobra?
An adult African cobra weighs 8.79 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the African cobra live?
The African cobra has a recorded lifespan of 20.2 years.
What kind of animal is the African cobra?
The African cobra (Naja pallida) belongs to the family Elapidae in the order Squamata.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
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Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
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Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). African cobra (Naja pallida). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-cobra
“African cobra (Naja pallida).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-cobra.
@misc{african_cobra_2026,
title = {African cobra (Naja pallida)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-cobra},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}