How does the ringhals protect itself?

The ringhals is a king of cobra, and it has two methods of self-defence. When danger first threatens, the ringhals pretends to be dead. It turns its body over, and lies there with its mouth open. Sometimes this has the desired effect and the would-be predator goes away.

But if the predator persists the ringhals has another way of defecting itself – it spits venom into the eyes of its attacker. There are holes situated at the base of its fangs, and the venom is sprayed through these for a distance of up to 2.4 m (8 ft). No wonder that the ringhals’ other name is the spitting cobra.