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timbo 1/x
Naturelover 3/x


Sometimes things are not what they seem to be..... in this case the one that often use tanathosis as a distraction

Rinkhals ... it is not a Cobra!

Rinkals
Mozambique spitting cobra
Black-necked spitting cobra
Black spitting cobra
Zebra cobra.

Ama i good or what?

Mozambique spitting Cobra
Black Necked spitting Cobra
Black spitting Cobra
Zebra Cobra (western-barred spitting cobra)

Nope! Rinkhals is not a cobra
It is also not a true spitter

Now why is the Rinkhals not a Cobra? (related but not)

It is not a cobra because its mother was not a cobra!

Sorry ...

It differs from true Cobras in a few ways:

Its skeleton and scales is different.
It berths live young, where the cobras lays eggs.

Okay - i was one to be confused with the rinkhals theory but after looking at my relative sources - i will now agree that the Rinkhals is definately not a cobra as Imberbe stated some of the differences. This quiz is really interesting.

So where to from here?

Over to you Imberbe.

Rinkhals- Keeled scales, Viviparous/ Cobras- smooth scales, ovoviparous and of course the sceletal diffs....

It has been said that, when you pick up a tortoise, it will wee on you in self defence.

This is in fact not true!

Why do I say so?

True

Tortoises do not have any major self-defence methods, except for their shell and they very rarely if ever bite. They will however, at times, urinate & defecate in defence.

That why one shouldn't pick them up especially in the dry season or arid regions. It could lead to stress and dehydration

Somebody is not reading what Imberbe said

Tortoises will urinate when picked up due to stress and not in self defence. (It works well as a human deterent though)
They defecate and urinate simultanously as there is no seperate anal and bladder openings but a common opening the cloaca. Apart from urine being released they also release water that is stored in a sac in the cloaca called the bursa. This water is used for reabsorbtion by the body or sometimes it is also used during the egg- laying process.

Pilane - I enjoyed that - learned alot here - thanks