King Cobra Vs Black Mamba - Who Will Win?
King cobras live mainly in Southeast Asia, whereas Black mambas live in Africa.
They are known to be the two most ferocious snakes in the world.
Due to their distinct geographic locations, the chances of them facing off in the wild is remote.
In this video, we will show you which of the two serpents will emerge victorious in case they met head to head.
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Appearance
The term mamba literally means “scales.”
The black mamba is a long, slender snake with a considerable amount of scales.
Despite its name, the black mamba is not black.
The black actually refers to the blue-black color of the inside of its mouth,which it displays when threatened.
The black mamba’s skin ranges from olive, yellowish-brown, gray to dark brown with a lighter underside.
Juvenile black mambas tend to be paler than adults, and darken with age.
The full-grown King Cobra is olive–green, brown, or black with usually yellowish chevrons
on its body. Hatchlings are brightly marked but fade as they mature.
The king cobra displays obvious sexual dimorphism;
with males being larger and paler than the females particularly during the breeding season.
King cobra differs from other cobra species by size and hood,
and it’s ability to stand up and look a full-grown person in the eye.
Size
Black mambas are Africa’s largest venomous snake and second-longest venomous snake in the world.
A fully grown black mamba typically measures from 2 to 3 m (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in)
and has a weight of about 1.6 kg (3.5 lb).
The longest black mamba ever captured,
measured 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) and weighed 2.4kg (5.3 lb).
The black mamba’s tail makes up to 17–25% of its total body length.
Unlike other snakes, it is very hard to differentiate between a male and female black mamba.
The king cobra is the world's longest venomous snake. Adult king cobras are 3.18 to 4 m (10.4 to 13.1 ft) long
and weigh about 6 kg (13lb).
The longest known king cobra measured 5.85 m (19.2 ft).
Male king cobras measure up to 3.75 m (12.3 ft) and weigh up to 10 kg (22 lb).
While females have a maximum length of 2.75 m (9 ft 10 in) and a weight of 5 kg (11 lb).
When alarmed, it raises the front part of its body, extends the hood and shows the fangs;
which greatly increases its size.
Distribution
The black mamba is mostly found in sub-Saharan Africa. It prefers moderately dry environments
such as light woodland and scrub, rocky outcrops and semi-arid savanna.
It uses termite mounds, abandoned burrows, rock crevices and tree cracks as shelter.
Although they can live in regions with altitude as high as 1,800m (5,900 ft),
they prefer moist savanna and lowland forests.
King cobras live mainly in the rain forests and plains of India, southern China, and Southeast Asia.
They are mostly found in forests, bamboo thickets, mangrove swamps, high-altitude grasslands, and in rivers.
Hunting Technique
The black mamba usually hunts from a permanent lair, to which it will regularly return if there is no disturbance.
It mostly preys on birds, particularly nestlings and fledglings,
and small mammals like rodents, bats, hyraxes, and bushbabies.
They generally prefer warm-blooded prey, but sometimes prey on smaller snakes.
The black mamba does not typically hold onto its prey after biting;
rather it releases its venom and waits for it to succumb to paralysis and death before it swallows.
The king cobra uses its tongue to pick up scent of a possible prey.
It senses earth-borne vibration and detects moving prey almost 100m (330 ft) away.
The king cobra hunts typically snakes like
Indian cobra, banded krait, rat snake, pythons, green whip snake, keelback,
banded wolf snake and Blyth's reticulated snake.
When biting, it retains its grip for up to eight minutes until its prey is paralyzed or dead.
Venom
The black mamba is the most feared snake in Africa
because of its venom toxicity and speed of onset of symptoms in a single bite.
The black mamba’s venom is a lot more toxic compared to other snakes.
It is very aggressive and will bite its victim repeatedly.
It can deliver up to 400 mg of venom, which can kill fully grown men within 20 minutes.
Without antivenom, the fatality rate from a black mamba bite is 100 percent.
The king cobra can deliver up to 420 mg venom in dry weight per bite which affects the victim's central nervous system,
resulting in paralysis in less than 30 minutes.
The King Cobra’s venom may not be highly potent, but it is one of the most dangerous snakes
because of the amount of venom injected in a single bite.
It often strikes and bites 3 – 4 times in quick succession,
each bite delivering 7 milliliters of venom which is enough to kill an elephant.
Who will win?
The black mamba’s speed of 16 km/h and highly toxic venom gives it the edge over the king cobra.
It can easily dash away from every single attack of the king cobra.
Also, itis capable of striking at a considerable range and will deliver a series of bites in rapid succession.
This means the black mamba doesn’t need to be close to the king cobra before it can attack.
I know you probably have begun to think that the black mamba will win this fight.
But have you wondered how the king cobra got its name?
Well, it is called, “king” because it kills and eats snakes.
Since most snakes wrestle in their fights, the king cobra’s size and weight is a great advantage.
Also, it has developed some amount of immunity to venom which makes the black mamba chances look very bleak.
Although the king cobra doesn’t have one of the most potent venoms;
when biting, it holds on to its prey until it is paralyzed or dead.
This means, a single bite from the “king” is all it may take to win the fight.
If there was to be a confrontation between a king cobra and a black mamba,
we favor the king cobra to overpower the black mamba;
by the virtue of the fact that the king cobra is longer, larger, more heavy,
has some immunity of venom to withstand the black mambas bite and top of it all, it is an expert in snake eating.
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