The black mamba is Africa's largest and most venomous snake and is often found on the ground
or occasionally in trees.
It is called a black mamba because of its blue-black mouth lining.
It's skin colour is a brown to grey colour with a lighter underside.
The black mamba is one of the fastest snakes in the world, and can slither at speeds of
up to about 20 kilometres per hour.
The black mamba is a very agile species that actively hunts warm-blooded prey.
Although it is one the most feared snakes in the world, the black mamba prefers to avoid
contact with humans as they are generally shy creatures.
However, if it does bite a human and there is no treatment, its bite can kill a human
within 20 minutes.
The black mamba has short, fixed fangs at the front of its mouth and has excellent vision.
It can measure up to 4.3 m and weigh in at up to 1.6 kg.
If a black mamba is cornered, it will try and escape.
However it can adopt a defensive posture, by raising its head, spreading its neck like
a cobra, displaying its black mouth lining and hissing.
If a black mamba is further provoked, it will strike repeatedly, injecting its attacker
with large amounts of deadly neurotoxins and cardiotoxins, which affect the nerves and
heart
The neurotoxins of the venom of a black mambas venom will cause muscle paralysis, and will
eventually killing the victim through respiratory failure.
They tend to eat warm-blooded prey such as bushbabies, rock hyraxes, bats and other small
mammals, as well as birds.
Their only real predators are birds of prey, however its young are occasionally predated
by other snakes.
They are active during the day, often basking in the branches of a tree in the early morning
before they go hunting.
This black mamba usually has a refuge such as a hole, hollow log, rock crevice or termite
nest, to which it returns at night.
They will breed between October and November, when the males will compete for females by
entwining their bodies and attempting to force their opponent to the ground.
The female black mamba will lay up to 17 eggs often inside a termite mound and they will
hatch after 80 to 90 days.
In some studies, young black mambas have rarely been observed, possibly because they grow
rapidly and can reach almost two metres in length in their first year, and because they
are likely to be more arboreal than the adults.
The black mamba can live for up to 11 years or more in the wild, or for up to 20 years
in captivity.
The black mamba is extremely widespread across sub-Saharan Africa, with individuals sighted
as far north and west as Senegal, and as far south as north-eastern South Africa.
Most reports of this species come from eastern and southern Africa
They live in a number of different habitats, including well-wooded savannah and riverine
forest, particularly in areas with an abundance of rocky hills and large trees.