On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 22:50:13 +0100, mike wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> John Forbes wrote: > >> King Cobras are not much smaller, but I'd rather be bitten by a python. > > King Cobras are much, _much_ smaller than the largest constrictors. From Wikipedia: K Cobras 18.5 ft (it doesn't mention a record, but I have seen mention of 24 ft.) Pythons 20 ft (the record is 32 ft. I don't suppose the person who met the biggest cobra lived to tell the tale!) I don't know what the average size of a King Cobra is, but in East Africa (home of many pythons) you seldom see a python longer than 15 ft. So "much, much, smaller" is not, in my view, correct. >> And as for Black Mambas... give me a croc any day. > > You might have a better chance of running from a croc but, if either of > them got to you, the Mamba might be a quicker way to go. Neither would > be painless. Black Mambas are big, very poisonous, fast, and, crucially, extremely aggressive. George Ionnides, the greatest snake collector of all, feared no other snake but gave Black Mambas a very wide berth. His book, if you come across it, is an excelent read. You can meet them anywhere, and if you are close they will usually attack. With crocs, you know where they will be, and if you have any sense you will be on land, in which case it is quite likely that they will be basking in the sun like a coster, and give you no trouble. Black Mambas are thought to kill more people in coastal East Africa than all other wild-life combined. And incidentally, I wouldn't choose to be bitten by a python. I was simply voicing a preference if the alternative were a King Cobra. John > > It was probably the pain that killed Irwin. > >> >> John >> >> On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 19:17:54 +0100, Mark Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> wrote: >> >> >>> Doug Brewer wrote: >>> >>> >>>> On Sep 4, 2006, at 7:38 AM, Mark Roberts wrote: >>>> >>>>> Fortunately your son has a dad who knows things like the fact that >>>>> octopuses have tongues. >>>>> >>>>> Mark Roberts Photography & Multimedia >>>> >>>> Indeed. It's why they keep me around. >>> >>> BTW: Did you know that the Anaconda *isn't* the biggest snake in the >>> world? It's the reticulated python. >>> >> >> >> >> > > -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
