Kraits Cobras Sea Snakes and Relatives: Elapidae

Elapids eat small mammals, birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, and fishes. Many of them feed on whatever they can find, while others eat only one or two different items. The favorite food of the southern African Rinkhal's cobra, for instance, is toads. Sea snakes find their meals in the coral reefs where most of them live, and they eat mainly fishes, eels, or squids. Most species in this family actively hunt for food, slithering or swimming up to prey, an animal they intend to eat, and then striking at them and biting them with their fangs. The fangs release venom, or poison, which slows down the prey's heartbeat and breathing, making the animal easy to eat. Rather than finding prey, the Australian death adder lets prey come to it. The adder sits still, wriggling only the tip of its tail, which looks much like an insect grub, the very young form of an insect. As the animals come closer to take a bite out of the tasty "grub," the snake strikes.