Do all snakes spit their venom?
The majority of snakes in the world and in southern Africa, including the cobras, cannot spit their venom. We have two common spitters, the Rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus) and the Mozambique Spitting Cobra (Naja mossambica). The other spitting cobras within our range are the Black-necked Spitting Cobra (Naja nigricollis nigricollis), the Black Spitting Cobra (Naja nigricollis woodi) and the Zebra Cobra (Naja nigricollis nigricincta). These snakes do not actually ‘spit’ their venom but rather squirt it, although ‘spit’ is commonly used.
