A Black Mamba’s scientific name is Dendroaspis polylepis. Black Mambas are reptiles. They live for about 11 or more years. Black Mambas can get up to fourteen feet long. They can weigh up to 3.5 pounds. They are called Black Mambas because they have black tongues. Black Mambas can kill you with their venom. Black Mambas are the fastest snake.

Venom

Black Mambas have two fangs with venom to protect themselves from predators. If a Black Mambas bites you and you don’t get antivenom you will die within twenty minutes. Unfortunately the antivenom is not available in lots of countries.

Characteristics

Adult Black Mambas are usually around 2.5 meters long (or eight feet). Black Mambas scales are olive-gray colar. They can move up to 12.5 miles per hour. Black Mambas use their speed mainly to run away from predators, instead of catching prey. Though there speed helps them catch prey. 

 Black Mamba Habitat

          Black Mambas live in South and East Africa. They live in savannas, rocky hills, and open woodlands. They like to rest in hollow trees, burrows or empty termite mounds.

Black Mambas’ Behavior

          Black Mambas are usually shy and will almost always escape when confronted. When these snakes are cornered, Black Mambas will raise their head, with a third of their body going off the ground, spread out their cobra like neck-flap and open their dark, black mouth, and hiss. If an attacker confronts the Black Mamba, it is not going to strike once but instead will keep on injecting large amounts of potent neuro and cardiotoxin (their venom) with each strike. Black Mambas are one of Africa’s longest and most venomous snakes.

Black Mambas’ Diet

          Black Mambas like to eat small mammals and birds. Some full-grown Black Mambas have been found to be eating larger birds and other snakes. Black Mambas catch their prey by biting them and then injecting their venom into them which kills them quickly. When they inject their venom, their prey is either dead or paralyzed. Black Mambas swallow their food whole because they only have two fangs instead of lots of teeth. Black Mambas can dislocate their jaws to eat food up to four times the size of their mouth.

Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Group

The Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Group was founded by Transfrontier Africa in 2013. They were founded to protect the Oilfants West Region of Balule Nature Reserve. They also started protecting parts of The Great Kruger National Park.

They help Black Mambas but also Rhinos. The group contains thirty-two women. These women want people not only in their town but in the whole world to understand that conservation is better than poaching.

This group is helping to make poaching harder, undesirable, and unprofitable. The women that run the group love Black Mambas, Rhinos, and all kinds of wildlife.

Black Mamba