Black mambas live across a wide part of sub-Saharan Africa, from Eritrea in the north to South Africa and Namibia in the south and west. They live on grassy savannas and rocky hills. They like places with cover, such as rocks and fallen trees.

The average adult black mamba is about 2 to 2.5 metres long, which is about 6.6 to 8.2 feet. It has a coffin-shaped head. Its scales are smooth, in 23 to 25 rows around the middle of the body. Its belly is lighter than its back, from cream to pale grey-green.

A black mamba is not black. Its back is gray or brown, and the inside of its mouth is blue-black, and that gives the snake its name. The species name, polylepis, comes from Greek words that mean many scales.

How fast is a black mamba? Black mambas have been reported slithering at up to about 20 kilometres an hour, or 12.5 miles an hour.

Black mambas prefer to travel on the ground, but they can also climb trees. A black mamba can lift its head and about a third of its body off the ground.

A black mamba is active from a few hours after sunrise until about an hour before dusk, and it returns to its refuge by late afternoon. It spends much of its time basking in the sun, often early in the morning. It rests in hollow trees and empty termite mounds. It also has a permanent lair that it comes back to.

Black mambas eat small animals such as rats and birds, and they also eat dassies, which are also called hyraxes. By eating small rodents, black mambas help keep the number of rodents down.

The black mamba is the longest venomous snake in Africa. Its venom is neurotoxic, which means it acts on the nervous system. The black mamba belongs to the snake family Elapidae, which includes many other venomous snakes.

As of November 2026, black mambas are widespread and are not endangered. As of November 2026, the IUCN Red List rates the black mamba as Least Concern.

Black mambas mate in the warm months, in spring or summer. A mother black mamba lays eggs, and the eggs take about 2 to 3 months to hatch. Accounts give different clutch sizes: 6 to 17 eggs or 10 to 25 eggs, and young black mambas get no help from their parents. After hatching they look after themselves. The longest recorded life of a captive black mamba was 11 years, as of November 2026. Wild snakes could live longer.

Words to know

• polylepis: many scales
• refuge: safe place
• dassies: small mammals
• neurotoxic: harming nerves
• Elapidae: snake family
• clutch: eggs together