A cobra, which was in labour pain, took a swipe at a filmer, who was trying to record it laying eggs.
The terrifying moment of the extremely venomous Indian spectacled cobra lunging at the filmer, who had got too close, was caught on camera.
Volunteers of Snake Helpline in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, rescued the cobra and brought it to their office after noticing that it was pregnant and had begun to lay eggs.
They placed the gorgeous 4.5-feet cobra in a well ventilated 16×13×8 inches plastic box.
Subhendu Mallik, secretary of Snake Helpline, began to film the rare sight of an Indian cobra laying eggs.
The cobra was highly agitated and raised its hood to keep Subhendu at a distance.
Subhendu said: “It never attacked. All its aggression was in self-defence and to protect its eggs.”
The cobra, which continued to lay eggs at regular intervals, grew tired and lowered its guard.
As it appeared to relax, Subhendu decided to go for a close-up and slowly approached the now-docile snake, which, however, kept staring at the mobile camera.
The cobra finished laying an egg, flickered its tongue a few times and then suddenly lunged forward to strike at the mobile phone.
Subhendu immediately stopped filming and put a lid over the box.
He said the incident left him terrified. “The snake struck the phone cover and missed my fingers by a few inches. The cover saved my day.”
The cobra laid a total of 23 eggs and was later released in its natural habitat.
