Zebra cobra
Naja nigricincta Bogert, 1940
Status not recordedsnakes
The zebra cobra (Naja nigricincta) is a species in the family Elapidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 8.79 kg and live up to 19.4 years.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the zebra cobra
- Weight
- 8.79 kg
- Length
- up to 2 m
- Lifespan
- 19.4 years
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 23.2 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- desert, shrubland
- Egg incubation
- 74 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 14.5
- Reproduction
- Eggs
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrial
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the zebra cobra live?
Not recorded
Is the zebra 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 zebra cobra classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyElapidae
- genusNaja
- SpeciesNaja nigricincta Bogert, 1940
Synonyms Naja nigra, Naja nigricollis nigricincta, Naja nigricollis var. fasciata, Naja nigricollis woodi
Other names and names in other languages (11)
- Western barred spitting cobraEnglish
- Zebra snakeEnglish
- SebraslangAfrikaans
- Zebra-spyttekobraDanish
- ZebraschlangeGerman
- Cobra zebraItalian
- Black Spitting Cobraroot
- 斑馬射毒眼鏡蛇Chinese
- Afrikanische SpeikobraGerman
- Namibia SpeikobraGerman
- Cobra sputatore zebratoItalian
Relatives of the zebra 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
CompareZebra cobra vs Indian cobraZebra cobra vs Egyptian cobraZebra cobra vs Forest cobraZebra cobra vs Black-necked spitting cobra
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the zebra cobra?
An adult zebra cobra weighs 8.79 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the zebra cobra live?
The zebra cobra has a recorded lifespan of 19.4 years.
What kind of animal is the zebra cobra?
The zebra cobra (Naja nigricincta) 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.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
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
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Zebra cobra (Naja nigricincta). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/zebra-cobra
“Zebra cobra (Naja nigricincta).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/zebra-cobra.
@misc{zebra_cobra_2026,
title = {Zebra cobra (Naja nigricincta)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/zebra-cobra},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}