Black Mambas are Africa's most dangerous and feared snake. Their poison can kill any living creature. Their main vulnerability is to habitat destruction.
The Black Mamba, dendroaspis polylepis, is one of the deadliest snakes in the world. It’s the second longest poisonous snake in the world, after the King Cobra. They can grow to up to fourteen feet in length and can travel as fast as twelve miles per hour, making it the fastest snake. Their outer coloring isn’t usually black. It varies between an olive or brownish gray. They get their name from the color of the lining of their mouth, which is usually a purplish black. They will show their mouth when they feel threatened. Black mambas are elapids, which mean they’re related to cobras and coral snakes.
Habitat
Black mambas can be found generally in Eastern Africa, from southern Ethiopia to southwest Africa. They prefer the open areas and will settle in spots such as savannahs, rocky areas and open woodlands. They will settle down in the same spot nightly and tend to be diurnal or day hunters. They like to occupy empty termite mounds, rocky crevices, burrows and hollow trees.
Prey
Black Mambas generally feed on squirrels, voles, rats, mice, small birds and other small mammals. They have been found to also eat other snakes, including cobras. When hunting, they will strike their prey once or twice. They will release the prey, allowing it to die before consuming it. One exception to this is when they hunt birds. Many times they will hold on to their meal, in order for it not to escape. They will then find the dead victim and due to the elasticity of its jaws, generally swallow their prey whole.
Temperament and Venom
Black Mambas have been maligned due to their extremely dangerous venom. Although they’re nervous snakes, they tend to run away when humans approach. If cornered, however, they will raise their head three to four feet off the ground, flatten their necks, show their mouth and produce an ominous hissing sound. They can strike from four feet away and will usually make a few quick strikes, before retreating away. Their potent neurotoxin can kill a human within twenty minutes. Before the productions of antivenin, black mamba bites were 100% lethal.
Breeding
The Black Mamba will mate in the spring and lay between fifteen to twenty-five eggs in decaying vegetation. As the vegetation decomposes, heat is given off, maintaining a degree of warmth around the egg, speeding up their hatching time. When they hatch, they are immediately independent and are capable of hunting small rodents. The young are generally vulnerable to mongooses or secretary birds.
Black Mambas are one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. Although they’re one of the longest, fastest and most dangerous snakes, they still prefer to retreat if given the chance. If cornered, they will not shy away. Their venom, a potent neurotoxin, has the ability to kill a giraffe or lion, not to mention a human being.
