| Latin Name
| Conservation Status
||Grey or Brown
||2.2 - 3.5 m (7 - 11.5 ft)
Black Mambas are the largest venomous snakes in Africa. They are grey or brown in colour and their streamline body is covered in large, smooth scales. The get their name from the black colouration inside their mouth. When they feel threatened they flatten their neck, hiss loudly and display their black mouth and deadly fangs.
Black Mambas are found in the wooded savannahs and rocky hills of east and southern Africa. They make dens in tree holes or rock crevices and they are active during the day.
Blacks mambas feed on birds and small mammals.
Black Mambas mate in early spring and females lay 12 - 17 eggs in underground chambers. After 2 - 3 months the eggs hatch and the young are able to fend for themselves straight away.
Predators of Black Mambas include humans, birds of prey, foxes, jackals and mongooses.
Black Mambas are among the 10 most venomous snakes in the world.
Black Mambas have the reputation of being the fastest moving snake on land.
Eastern Green Mamba
Western Green Mamba