Cape cobra: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Cape cobra lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Naja nivea
Group	Snakes
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	Africa
Class	Reptile
Order	Squamata
Family	Elapidae

Where does the Cape cobra live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Cape cobra in 2 countries and territories across Africa.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the Cape cobra endangered?

The Cape cobra’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the Cape cobra?

The Cape cobra (Naja nivea) is a reptile in the order Squamata and the family Elapidae, genus Naja. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Cape cobra

The Cape cobra (Naja nivea), also called the yellow cobra, is a moderate-sized, highly venomous species of cobra inhabiting a wide variety of biomes across southern Africa, including arid savanna, fynbos, bushveld, desert, and semidesert regions.

The species is diurnal and is a feeding generalist, preying on a number of different species and carrion. Predators of this species include birds of prey, honey badgers, and various species of mongooses. The Cape cobra is also known as the geelslang (yellow snake) and bruinkapel (brown cobra) in South Africa. Afrikaans-speaking South Africans also refer to the Cape cobra as koperkapel (copper cobra), mainly because of a rich yellow colour variation. This species has no known subspecies.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Cape cobra (revision 1365137610), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q1130416 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).