PC: Novel Natural History Observations on the Reproductive Biology of King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) From Yunnan Province, China
The third nest was found in Lancang County, Pu’er City, south-central Yunnan, on 17 June 2025. Because the question of whether several king cobras can participate in guarding the same nest has remained uncertain, the observation matters. Older accounts had described both sexes taking part in nest guarding, but more recent field studies had not confirmed this behaviour. They reported seeing two adult king cobras guarding the nest, although only one was present when the researchers visited.
The authors say the Kunming observation provides new evidence that multiple individuals can participate in guarding a king cobra nest. They could not determine the sex of either snake, so the observation does not establish exactly how the two individuals were related or what role each played. Residents again made the initial discovery.
The nests, found between 2020 and 2025 in different parts of the province, contained 30, 72 and 25 eggs. Titled ‘ Novel Natural History Observations on the Reproductive Biology of King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) From Yunnan Province, China ’, the first nest was found on 10 July 2020 in Menghai County, in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southern Yunnan, according to the study published in Integrative Conservation. Local residents came across it in a tropical bamboo forest at an elevation of about 1,730 metres. The second discovery was made several years later, on 6 June 2024, in a mixed forest west of Kunming. The snakes were still there when researchers returned on 1 July, with one measuring about 1.8 metres and the other more than 2 metres long. By the July survey, it stood roughly 1 metre high and measured around 1.5 metres across. The researchers later found 72 eggs packed towards the centre of the structure. Temperatures inside the nest were estimated at between 35°C and 40°C, considerably warmer than the surrounding air.
Because they represent the first documented king cobra nesting and clutch-size records in China outside the Xizang Autonomous Region, the observations are significant. Because king cobras are difficult to study in the wild, and their reproductive behaviour is still not fully understood, the observations are especially valuable. Three king cobra nests discovered by residents in Yunnan, China, have given scientists an unusually close look at a part of the snake’s life that remains poorly documented. The largest clutch, found west of Kunming, was particularly unexpected, with two king cobras observed guarding the same nest during several visits. Scientists could not establish the snakes’ sexes, leaving open the possibility that two females had contributed to the unusually large clutch. The other nests were found in bamboo forests, including one where young king cobras were later seen emerging. By documenting nest locations, egg numbers and parental behaviour, the findings provide rare details that can help researchers better understand how the species reproduces in different environments. The nest was made largely from bamboo leaves and an adult king cobra was guarding it, believed by the researchers to be a female. This time, residents found two king cobras at a nest made from pine needles. The nest itself was changing as the snakes continued working on it. The eggs sat roughly half a metre above the ground and below the upper layer of nesting material.
The findings also add to growing evidence that the species’ nesting behaviour may be more varied than previously recorded.
