'But if cornered or hurt, it will not hesitate to strike.' 'Although often labelled an aggressive snake, the black mamba is very shy and nervous, and quick to escape when it has the choice,' Johan Marais of the African Snakebite Institute told Africa Geographic. Like many snake species, they avoid confrontation, attacking only when threatened.
Black mambas, however, are not the dark-mouthed harbingers of death they're so often portrayed to be. A bite to the chest or head and you could collapse into paralysis in half the time it takes to watch an episode of Game of Thrones (a terrifying thought indeed, partly because you won't get to finish said episode). While it's not unusual for snakes to eat other snakes (cobras are known for having a particular penchant for this), the behaviour is not witnessed often, especially when the snake being ingested is one of the world's deadliest.īlack mambas have a fearsome reputation, due in large part to their frightfully fast-acting venom. Image: Daniel Hitchings Tar/Marataba Lodgeīattles involving two such venomous combatants are rarely seen, or successfully documented.
