The black mamba is lethally venomous, and without treatment its bite can kill a human within 20 minutes. If cornered, the black mamba may adopt a defensive posture, raising its head, spreading its neck like a cobra, displaying its black mouth lining and hissing. If further provoked, it will strike repeatedly, injecting its attacker with large amounts of deadly neurotoxins and cardiotoxins, which affect the nerves and heart (2) (3) (4). The neurotoxins in the black mamba’s venom cause muscle paralysis, eventually killing the victim through respiratory failure (3). However, the black mamba is a shy creature and generally seeks to escape when confronted (2).
The diet of the black mamba consists of warm-blooded prey such as bushbabies, rock hyraxes, bats and other small mammals, as well as birds (3) (7). This snake is a fast and agile hunter with excellent vision, and actively pursues its prey, striking rapidly to inject its venom (3) (4). The adult black mamba has few natural predators apart from birds of prey, but juveniles are occasionally predated by other snakes (7).
The black mamba is active during the day (4) (8), often basking in the branches of a tree in the early morning before it goes hunting (4). This species usually occupies a favoured refuge such as a hole, hollow log, rock crevice or termite nest, to which it returns at night (4) (8).
The black mamba usually breeds between October and November (7), when the males compete for females by entwining their bodies and attempting to force their opponent to the ground (3) (4). The female black mamba lays a clutch of up to 17 white, elongated eggs (3) (4) (7), often inside a termite mound, and the eggs hatch after 80 to 90 days (3). In some studies, young black mambas have rarely been observed, possibly because they grow rapidly and can reach almost two metres in length in their first year (3) (8), and because they are likely to be more arboreal than the adults (8).
A relatively long-lived species, the black mamba may live for 11 years or more in the wild (2), or for up to 20 years in captivity (3).