Black mamba
Dendroaspis polylepis
— Where the name comes from
Dendroaspis is Greek for “tree asp”, from déndron, tree, and aspís, venomous snake. Polylepis, “many-scaled”. “Mamba” comes from the Zulu imamba. The “black” is not the body, which is olive-grey, but the inside of the mouth, which it gapes open like ink in threat. It is the most feared snake in Africa.
— Facts
- Group
- Reptiles · Reptilia
- Order
- Squamates
- Habitat
- Savannah, bushland, rocky outcrops
- Range
- Eastern and southern sub-Saharan Africa
- Size
- 2–3 m, up to 4.5 m
- Diet
- Carnivore — small mammals and birds
- Lifespan
- 11 years and more
— Characteristics
- 01
It is the fastest snake in Africa: it moves at up to 20 km/h over short distances.
- 02
The neurotoxic venom can kill a person within hours without antivenom.
- 03
Cornered, it gapes its black mouth in an unmistakable warning.
— What sets it apart
The black mamba owes its name not to the colour of its body but to what it shows when frightened: it opens its mouth wide, revealing an interior black as pitch, raises its neck off the ground and hisses. It is an honest warning — do not come closer — because the snake nearly always prefers to flee, and can do so at a speed that has earned it the exaggerated reputation of “chasing a man”. In truth it runs; it bites only when you leave it no choice.
