CreatureData

Black mamba

Dendroaspis polylepis Günther, 1864

LCLeast Concernsnakes

The black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) is a snake in the family Elapidae, within the order Squamata and class Reptilia. It falls in the large size class, with a representative adult body mass of 30.76 kg.

Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
Photo: Bill Love/Blue Chameleon Ventures · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the black mamba

Its egg incubation period is 72.5 days, and the figure given for young per litter or eggs per clutch is 11.5. Its lifespan is 11 years, with values up to 26.2 years reported, and the IUCN Red List assesses it as Least Concern, not a threatened category.

Weight
30.8 kgsrc for Weight
Length
3 m – 4.5 msrc for Length
Lifespan
11 years – 26.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
Main food
vertebratessrc for Main food
Habitat
forest, rocky, woodlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
72.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
11.5src for Young per litter or clutch
Active
By day (diurnal)src for Active
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the black mamba?

BLACK MAMBA · LENGTH 4.5 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 4.5 m, the recorded maximum length of the black mamba is about 2.6 times the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the black mamba

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
No machine-readable author provided · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
Tim Vickers · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
TimVickers · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
TimVickers · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
TimVickers · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
TimVickers · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the black mamba live?

Not recorded

What is the black mamba?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) is a species of highly venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. It is native to parts of sub-Saharan Africa. First formally described by Albert Günther in 1864, it is the second-longest venomous snake after the king cobra; mature specimens generally exceed 2 m (6 ft 7 in) and commonly grow to 3 m (9.8 ft). Specimens of 4.3 to 4.5 m (14 to 15 ft) have been reported. It varies in colour from grey to dark brown. Juvenile black mambas tend to be more pale in colour than adults, and darken with age. Despite the common name, the black mamba is not black; the colour name describes rather the inside of its mouth, which it displays when feeling threatened.

The species is both terrestrial (ground-living) and arboreal (tree-living); it inhabits savannah, woodland, rocky slopes and in some regions, dense forest. It is diurnal and is known to prey on birds and small mammals. Over suitable surfaces, it can move at speeds up to 16 km/h (10 mph) for short distances. Adult black mambas have few natural predators.

In a threat display, the black mamba usually opens its inky-black mouth, spreads its narrow neck-flap and sometimes hisses. It is capable of striking at considerable range and may deliver a series of bites in rapid succession. Its venom is primarily composed of neurotoxins that often induce symptoms within ten minutes, and is frequently fatal unless antivenom is administered. Despite its reputation as a formidable and highly aggressive species, the black mamba attacks humans only if it is threatened or cornered. It is rated as least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Threatened Species.

From the Wikipedia article “Black mamba” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_mamba&oldid=1383365348), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the black mamba endangered?

The black mamba is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the black mamba classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classReptilia
  4. orderSquamata
  5. familyElapidae
  6. genusDendroaspis
  7. SpeciesDendroaspis polylepis Günther, 1864

Synonyms Dendraspis angusticeps, Dendraspis antinorii, Dendraspis mamba, Dendroaspis polylepis antinorii

Other names and names in other languages (40)
  • Black currentEnglish
  • Common black mambaEnglish
  • Ethiopian black mambaEnglish
  • SwartmambaAfrikaans
  • mamba prietaAsturian
  • Чорная мамбаBelarusian
  • mamba černáCzech
  • Sort MambaDanish
  • ilimanjighuTaita
  • Schwarze MambaGerman
  • ChochDinka
  • Mamba NegraSpanish
  • MustamambaFinnish
  • Mamba NoirFrench
  • fekete mambaHungarian
  • Mamba hitamIndonesian
  • Mamba neroItalian
  • Serpente dei sette passiItalian
  • ブラックマンバJapanese
  • Mhakurekth
  • nyamubobokth
  • Rovambirakth
  • Svart MambaNorwegian Bokmål
  • Zwarte MambaDutch
  • mamba czarnaPolish
  • Mamba-pretaPortuguese
  • Чёрная мамбаRussian
  • HangaraShona
  • kobokoSwahili
  • งูแบล็คแมมบาThai
  • งูแบล็คแมมบ้าThai
  • Kara mambaTurkish
  • PhikaTswana
  • MokôpaTswana
  • mokwepaTswana
  • mokwepa o montshoTswana
  • Мамба чорнаUkrainian
  • KhangalaVenda
  • iMamba emnyamaXhosa
  • 黑曼巴蛇Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the black mamba

Other species in the same genus Dendroaspis.

CompareBlack mamba vs Eastern green mambaBlack mamba vs Western green mambaBlack mamba vs Jameson's mamba

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the black mamba?

The black mamba is a snake, a reptile in the family Elapidae and the suborder Serpentes.

How heavy is the black mamba?

The representative adult body mass of the black mamba is 30.76 kg, which places it in the large size class.

Is the black mamba endangered?

No. The black mamba is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

How long does the black mamba live?

The black mamba has a lifespan of 11 years, and values up to 26.2 years have been reported.

How long is the black mamba's egg incubation period?

The egg incubation period of the black mamba is 72.5 days.

How many young or eggs does the black mamba have?

The figure for young per litter or eggs per clutch for the black mamba is 11.5.

Who named the black mamba and when?

The scientific name Dendroaspis polylepis is credited to Günther, 1864.

What other names does the black mamba have?

Other English names for the black mamba are Black current, Common black mamba and Ethiopian black mamba.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-mamba

MLA

“Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-mamba.

BibTeX
@misc{black_mamba_2026,
  title = {Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-mamba},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}