How to Identify a Deadly Black Mamba Snake in the Wild

By Rodney Southern

Instructions

Step 1:
Many people think that the black mamba is black in color. This is not true as the mamba is usually a light gray color; t is never black as the name seems to imply. The black is describing the mamba's mouth color. When a mamba is excited or annoyed, it will rise up sometimes as far as 5 to 6 feet off the ground and flash its open mouth at the source of its irritation. The inside of the mouth is a dark black color and you never want to be close enough to see that.
Step 2:
The black mamba is fast. Without a doubt it can move quickly enough to strike you before you know what hit you so never come anywhere close to a black mamba. It can strike you very quickly. This snake can move over 10 mph.
Step 3:
The black mamba is mostly a ground dweller. Its relative, the green mamba is a tree dweller. They are often mistaken for one another, though they look very much different from one another. The black mamba will sometimes venture into trees, but generally if you see a long slender snake in a tree in Africa, it is the green mamba.
Step 4:
The black mamba is among the worlds longest venomous snakes, reaching lengths of up to 14 feet. The average mamba is around 9 feet, but larger specimens are common. Keep in mind that snakes often can strike you from a distance of about half of their body length. That is a long strike range for a snake as deadly as the mamba.
Step 5:
The mamba is generally a shy, reclusive reptile, but if it is threatened that changes. The mamba will rear up, hiss, and spread its neck in a cobra-like fashion at the threat. The black mamba will flash that deadly black mouth open and if the threat does not go away and leave it alone, it will strike repeatedly. When one considers that the bite of the black mamba is near 100 percent fatal without antivenin, that is a scary thought out in the African bush. A mamba generally will strike many times, injecting huge doses of the deadly venom.

Tips & Warnings

Do not ever approach a black mamba and keep at least 200 feet back at a minimum.
The black mamba bite is near 100 percent fatal without antivenin.

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