English: Naja nivea hooding while swimming across a dam. It began as soon as the boat approached, and then stopped swimming and reared fully, adopting the terrestrial behaviour pattern while still floating.
Kindly made available by Sonja van Zyl, after she had taken the photographs at Die Mond in the Karoo. The Cape cobra, Naja nivea was seen swimming in the dam where they were boating. Its body floating so high in the water reflects how fully it had inflated its lung, though the effectively solid tail hangs lower in the water. Though Cape cobras are not aquatic, they swim effectively, like most active snake species. This one began hooding slightly when disturbed by the boat, and when the boat approached more closely, the snake reared, demonstrating the same attitude as that of the defensive threat on land, while still floating.