Black Mamba Snake
Introduction
The Black Mamba snake (Latin name Dendroaspis polylepis) is the largest and most deadly snake in Africa. There's 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.
Appearance
It is not black in contrast to common beliefs. The black comes from the fact that its black inside its mouth. Its body is light greyish. Adults snakes reaches a length of approx. 7 to 13 feet. It moves very fast and some people actually thinks that from time to time it hunts people down all through the woods. This is not the case.
Habitat
They can be found a lot of places in South Africa. It lives in all sorts of habitats but do however have the 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
Its a diurnal predator and hunts both on ground and in trees. It takes all sorts of animals from rats to insects and everything in between.
The black mamba snake has quite a special appearance
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.