Black mamba

Black Mamba Snake

The Black Mamba Snake (Latin name Dendroaspis polylepis) is the largest and most deadly snake in Africa. There are a lot of myth about this snake and most if not all of them are not true. It is however clear that the black mamba is a very agile snake and the fastest snake in the world in terms of moving speed.

The Black Mamba snake is not black in contrast to common beliefs. The "black" comes from the fact that the inside of the snake's mouth is black, while the body is actually a light grey. Adult snakes reaches a length of approx. 7 to 13 feet. This snake moves very quickly and it has become a common belief that the snake will occasionally hunt people throughout the woods. This is not the case.

Habitat
The Black Mamba is found throughout South Africa. While it lives in many habitats, the Black Mambas have a habit of returning to a particular place to seek shelter.

Venom and bites
It will defend itself and bite if necessary. If the bite is not a dry bite and venom is injected the victim will die without treatment. The venom acts by paralyzing the nervous system. The venom eventually causes the envenomated prey to die from suffocation so it can be swallowed without offering resistance.

Diet
It is a diurnal predator and hunts both on ground and in trees. It eats all sorts of animals from rats to insects and everything in between.

Life Cycle
The females lay from 10-25 eggs that hatches late in the summer. There's no kind of parental care and the hatchlings are ready to catch and hunt prey right after they hatched.