The world’s longest venomous snake, the king cobra, (Ophiophagus hannah), has been found in Gaurishankar Conservation Area in Dolakha district, conservationists say.

Chief of the Conservation Area Satyanarayan Shah said they also spotted a nest of the king cobra. “We are surprised to see a king cobra guarding its eggs,” he said. The female king cobra is around 10 to 15-feet in length. A conservationist list the king cobra as vulnerable and is on the ‘endangered’ list due to a loss of habitat and over-exploitation for medicinal purposes.

Officials have banned people from entering the area. They suspect there could be more cobras in the area.

Conservation Officer Bishnu Prasad Pandey confirmed the snake as king cobra. Officials spotted it altitude for the first time, he said. The king cobra was often seen at altitudes around 1,300 meters of the then Khare VDC-8. The altitude of Mount Gaurishankar is 7,146 meters.  

The Conservation Office has started investigation after finding the female king cobra in the forest. “We suspect that there’s also a male king cobra in the forest,” said Shah. The king cobra is usually found in dense forest areas of Tarai and inner Madhes in Nepal.

It is found mostly in South-East Asia and includes India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Cambodia, the southern parts of China, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia.