Page 11 - Deadliest Snakes

ground. It is a terrifying sight and one that signals the
gravest danger for the object of the snake’s fury.

If an intruder ignores these signs and fails to fl ee, the
snake takes bold action. It thrusts itself forward and up-
ward to strike. Because its head is already 3 to 4 feet (.9
to 1.2 m) off the ground at this point, the black mamba
is capable of burying its fangs in a person’s chest or
head—perilously close to the vital organs.

No matter where it lands, the black mamba’s bite
is potentially lethal, delivering up to 400 milligrams of
venom. This is enough to kill dozens of adult humans.
Even worse, though, is the fact that this snake can strike
multiple times in a row, up to an incredible twelve times
in a single second. The attack happens so quickly that
a person may think he or she was only bitten once. But

the many puncture wounds left on the victim’s skin re-
veal the deadly truth.

The Kiss of Death

Once a person has been bitten, the clock is ticking.
The black mamba’s venom is extremely fast acting and

spreads rapidly through the person’s system. The fi rst
symptoms, which include dizziness, headache, a rac-
ing heart, and breathing trouble, appear within fi fteen
to thirty minutes. Convulsions, paralysis, and uncon-
sciousness soon follow. The symptoms progress until
the victim dies of suffocation or heart collapse, generally

between seven and fi fteen hours after the bite occurs.
In some instances, though, the process can be much
faster. A particularly gruesome case occurred in March
2008, when a British student was bitten by a black
mamba at a safari guide training school in Hoedspruit,

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