SHARJAH - In a scientific breakthrough, researchers at the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife (BCEAW), part of the Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA), Government of Sharjah, have bred the Arabian Cobra in captivity for the first time in the world.
A female cobra has laid down 19 eggs which were placed by researchers on an incubator so as to monitor and collect data on temperature, humidity and growth of embryos.
After 59 days, 16 babies were hatched out for the first time in the world.
With up to two metre long, cobra is one of the the largest venomous snakes in Arabia and is found in highlands of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman.
The BCEAW’s key job is to breed the regionally endangered wildlife, but it also serves as a base for research into all the mammal, reptile, freshwater fish, amphibians and invertebrates species which inhabit the Arabian Peninsula.