How King Cobra Venom Is Milked to Create Life-Saving Antivenom

We have got a monocled cobra in the room. Dr. Oat, it's in this box. Correct. Yeah. So, real quick, walk us through what is going to be the game play for how we're going to milk this venom. So, first we're going to head the snake out and try to control the snake by using the snake hook to pin the head of the snake down with the rubber pad. Okay. And then you grab the head of the snake and then let the snake bite the film. Like I say, try to control the snake. That is the key. So, if you guys ready, I think Yeah, we're ready. I'm going to start rolling that

camera so that can jump out of the way. My job is going to be to grab the back of the snake, cover up the cloaca so that it doesn't poop all over the place. But if it does, I at least have on rubber boots. Right. Yeah. Here comes the monocled Cobra. This is always the most nerve-wracking part for sure. When the snake comes out of the Oh, yeah. Jeez, there he is. Ooh, pretty good size, huh? So far so good. Dr. Oh, cool. Look at the monocle on the back of that snake. Yeah. Whoa.

You can notice the snake has not even struck a single time yet. Good with the head?. Yeah. Turn it. Got the cloaca. Whoa. monocled cobra. There we go. Wow. It's so streamlined. Holy cow. And Dr. Oat, how many people do you think that amount of venom could kill? A lot. First time milking the monocled Cobra. All right. Okay. Let go. You got him. Okay. Mon cobra. We successfully got venom. It doesn't look like a lot, but even a tiny drop of that has the potential to be fatal. So, I'm guessing that a yield of this size could kill quite possibly

hundreds of people. That's how potent this venom is. Hand shakes just holding the container. Even though I know that even if some of this venom were to get on my skin, nothing would happen. I'd have to be injected into my body, but just makes you nervous to be around a snake like that and to see what it is capable. So, Dr. Oat, here we are looking at the venom yield. Would you consider this a large amount of venom or a small amount of veno? For this one is like uh moderate amount. Okay. And lower than that is capable of killing you. capable. So any bite from a monocled

cobra becomes a medical emergency, which is why you guys are doing the venom milking to make the antivenenom because a lot of people are bitten by snakes here in Thailand on a yearly basis, right? Well, okay. This venom is going to be an important part of the work you guys are doing to create the antivenenom. And now it's time to milk the king cobra, which is going to be a little bit more chaotic than the monocled, right? I think we're going to need a bigger vial, aren't we? Oh yeah, we're going there. How big is the snake that's coming out of this container? I think around 3

meters. Okay. 3 meters? From our breeding facility. This is where it gets really dangerous. I'm going to let you lead and I'm going to grab the middle of the body this time. Yeah. And he's going to grab the tail. No, he's going to grab the head. Oh, you're grabbing the head. Okay. You're grabbing the tail. Okay, guys. Just be careful. We know how king cobras can be very sporadic. We've seen this situation before. All right, everybody. Be careful. Camera's rolling. Ready when you are. Okay. King Cobra coming out of the box. Here we go. Oh, yeah. That's a big steak. Oh, you're going for a grab with the hand. What?

That's a risky little game right there. Whoa, look at that speed up. Wow, what a grab. How about that? Wa! This is so strong. Okay. Oo, you can hear it hissing. Here comes the bite. You got a good control. Look at the Wow, the snake is strong. Wow, that is huge venom heels. That's a heck of a bite right there. Not a snake that you would ever want to latch on to. And with something like a cobra,

they don't have big long fangs like a pit viper. So when they grab on, those teeth sort of lock in place and they begin to chew in that venom. So imagine trying to get one of these snakes off of your arm. Not exactly going to be easy if you're bitten. And a yield like that is almost a guaranteed death sentence. All right, so how do we get it back into the box? Okay, tail first. Tail, bro. Oh, your hand is so close to its mouth. All right, I'm stepping out. Getting it back into the box is harder than getting it out of the box.

He did it. Woo! Oh, that was awesome. Well done. Nerve-wracking. I cannot believe that he went for the grab with just the bare hand. I thought the snake was coming out of the box. We were going to have to pin it like we did in Florida. He just went straight for the hand grab. It's crazy to watch that. Requires a lot of nerve. Still, patient, precise, boom. Cuz if you miss that grab and that snake turns around, gets your hand, game over. Wow. All right. So, let's take a look at the venom yield. It's okay to pick this up, right? All right. So,

not a ton of venom, right? Yeah. I would say like moderate yield. Okay. But even that much Yeah. is incredibly potent. And we're talking about hundreds if not thousands of people that amount of venom could kill. I mean, you took just a pin prick of this venom and poked it into somebody's skin. Yeah. What you notice is how they grab and latch on. Is that the most dangerous thing about cobra bites is how they hold on for the king cobra. Yeah. Yeah, they do that lock jaw behavior. Yeah, sometime they just bite and release all the venom, all of the venom. So, let's

let's try this cuz you've got this cobra head model here. So, put your arm out real quick. So, this is obviously bigger than a cobra would be. So, if one were to bite onto you, how would you get it off of your arm? Uh, normally maybe if it happened, right? Yeah, if you have it, right? Just try to use some instrument like forep or maybe a hard cut to let the fan know first like a credit card. Yeah. So, oh, like this. Like I got my room key here from the hotel. So, use something like a credit card or your hotel room key and push that back over the teeth. Yeah. But like that to

try to get space so that you could then pry your arm out. But in the real situation, maybe it doesn't work because they have like strong muscle. I mean, can you even imagine being in a situation where if one was locked onto your hand, they would have the cognizance to like grab something to do that with. Yeah. So here, let's try to show me. So in our facility, you can be like uh use another. Yeah. But in the real I mean in the realation maybe was so hard. Well, that was intense. Dr. Oat, we have got our sample. So now this will go into the antivenenom facility

and it will go through its process so that then it can ultimately save lives. Yeah. Crazy. So that was our second time milking a king cobra. First time milking the monocled cobra. But there you have it. We're here in Thailand and Dr. Oat, thank you so much for letting us be a part of the research this morning. You guys see what it takes to make antivenenom and ultimately save lives. And when people are bitten by snakes here in Thailand, it's why this research is so incredibly important. Appreciate all your time this morning. You're excellent. Much respect.

I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave. Stay wild. We'll see you on the next adventure.