Sunda king cobra (Ophiophagus bungarus)

Is it now signed as bungarus or do you just know it to be so?

@LaughingDove The Chinese & Malayan kings are visually distinguishable. @RatioTile got it right.

@Sicarius oh sorry I wasn't doubting the identification. I was just wondering whether the zoo has signed it as such. It's always a pleasant surprise to see zoos update signage to reflect new scientific or taxonomic advances. Bronx seems like the sort of place that might.

I asked a reptile keeper and he said they're certain, but it would take a while to do the whole process of updating signage.

For what it's worth, most kings in captivity are the newly described bungarus species, seemingly a mix of Malay and Indonesian descent (time will tell if these visually distinct forms are later described as subspecies). True hannah are also in zoos, but seemingly much rarer (at least in the AZA).

I do understand that the AZA has already been pairing cobras up by locale for years now, so in theory we shouldn't have much of an issue with hybridization within the AZA managed population.

~Thylo

@Sicarius how can you tell them apart?