Infrared camera captures rare footage of king cobra in forest in SW China’s Yunnan province

Three pictures and a 10-second video clip were shot on an infrared camera at noon on July 31 in a primeval forest that is over 2,400 meters above sea level in the nature reserve, and wildlife conservation experts confirmed that it was a king cobra, a species of snake.

The video clip and images are valuable for the study and protection of the species, as king cobras mainly inhabit mountains lower than 1,800 meters in south China and southwest China.

An infrared camera cannot be triggered by cold-blooded animals such as snakes when taking photographic images, said Wang Wenhai, an official at the nature reserve, explaining that the king cobra was captured either because other small wild animals were situated nearby or the sunshine set off heat sensors on the infrared camera.

The king cobra, a species of snake under national second-class protection in China, was previously listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.