Green Mamba

Green mambas are fast and can travel up to 7 miles per hour.

In the thick forests of Western and Eastern Africa, you might find a deadly creature slithering through the Cashew and Coconut trees. These highly venomous, and stunningly beautiful, snakes have two varieties – the Western and Eastern Green Mambas. These long, slender snakes have narrow heads that are disturbingly coffin-shaped.

They are almost completely arboreal, living most of their solitary lives in the trees. The only time they leave their tree-top home is to change trees, bask, or mate. Both species are shy and would rather find an escape route than take a bite out of a person. However, when they do decide to bite it can be fatal in as little as 30 minutes, so immediate medical care is vital to survival.

3 Amazing Facts About Green Mambas

• A bite from a Green Mamba can cause death in as little as 30 minutes with a severe bite, but it often takes several hours.
• They rarely come out of the trees except to change trees, bask, or mate.
• Unlike other venomous snakes that hold their prey after biting it, green mambas bite and immediately release it; then wait for it to succumb to their potent venom.

Where To Find

Green mambas prefer dense, well-shaded vegetation, and wild forests. You might find these beautiful but-deadly snakes slithering through coconut groves, cashew trees, and dense thickets. They are very adaptable, and where human development has overtaken the forest they make a home for themselves among the shrubbery if where it’s thick enough. There are many verified sightings and captures in neighborhoods and homes in their native ranges.

A green mamba can move almost 7 miles per hour and often try to escape before confronting a human. They’re rather shy snakes, so bites from them are relatively rare – if often fatal when untreated.

It is an opportunistic hunter and spends its days either stationary while waiting for prey to wander within its reach, or actively hunting small prey in the trees such as birds and their eggs, lizards, and bats.

Eastern Green Mambas

You’ll find eastern green mambas in the trees of coastal tropical forests in East Africa in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, and South Africa.

Western Green Mambas

These snakes inhabit the coastal rainforests in the West African countries of Gambia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

Scientific Name

These snakes are members of the Elapidae family, along with King Cobras and coral snakes. They are both species in the Dendroaspis genus of snakes. Dendroaspis comes from Greek, it’s a compound word formed from dendron which means tree; and aspis, a generic term once used to describe any venomous snake; now, it’s only applied to a few snakes.

The eastern green mamba’s scientific name, Dendroaspis angusticeps, means “Narrow-headed Tree Asp,” angusticeps is Latin and means narrow-headed. The Western Green Mamba’s scientific name, Dendroaspis viridis, is a little different and viridis means green, hence Dendroaspis viridis means “Green Tree Asp.”

Their common name, mamba, is a borrowed word from either Swahili or Zulu.

The 4 Types of Mambas

There are four types of Mamba snakes that we know of so far:

• Eastern green mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps) makes its homes in the coastal rain forests of East Africa.
• Western green mamba (Dendroaspis viridis) inhabits the coastal rainforests of West Africa.
• Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) is both terrestrial and arboreal, inhabiting savanna, woodland, rocky slopes, and forests of central and southern Africa.
• Jameson’s mamba (Dendroaspis jamesoni) looks similar to Western Green Mambas and inhabits areas of western and central Africa.

Population and Conservations Status

Both green mambas species are listed on the IUCN Redlist as Least Concern; they are fairly common throughout their range, and biologists believe their population is stable. These snakes are generalists and have flexible habits, so they can adapt to changes in their environment. They can make their homes anywhere there’s an adequate amount of cover, such as shrubbery around buildings; despite a fractured native range they appear to be thriving.

They have few natural predators, but black-headed herons and birds of prey include them in their diet. Their main threat is human encroachment, but they seem to be meeting that challenge with few problems.

Appearance and Description

Both of these species range in length from 4-7 feet as adults while hatchlings average between 14-24 inches. They have medium eyes with round pupils. Green Mambas mate during the rainy season between April and June, then in October or November lay a clutch of 4-17 eggs in leaf litter in hollow trees. Hatchlings emerge about 90 days later.

Western Green Mambas are varying shades of bright green on their backs with yellow-green bellies, fading to orange or yellow at the tail. There are dark margins between their large scales that give them a striking appearance. Juveniles are often turquoise and develop their bright green as they mature into adults.

Eastern Green Mambas are also bright green but lack the dark margins between scales; they have a velvety appearance and occasional yellow scales as adults, as juveniles they’re often blue-green or turquoise.

Green Mambas are often confused with harmless green snakes from the Philothamnus genus and the venomous green Boomslang. Both types of snakes are shades of green, making identification a little difficult if all you saw was a flash of green moving through the brush. However, only the boomslang is venomous.

Venom: How Dangerous Are Green Mambas?

These snakes are beautiful but highly venomous, and should not be handled except by experienced herpetologists. They rarely bite but possess a type of quick-acting venom. So, if you are bitten by the venomous green mamba, then you would likely begin seeing its effects as soon as 15 minutes following being bitten. Bites with severe envenomation can cause death in as little as 30 minutes to a few hours. The good news is that antivenom is effective, and can often reverse symptoms quickly.

Symptoms of a Green Mamba Bite

This snake’s venom can be deadly very quickly. Symptoms include:

• At the snakebite site, general pain and swelling.
• General symptoms include shock, hypotension, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, flushing of the face, increased sweating, breathing distress, and heart problems.

Treatment with green mamba bites is very effective but often requires up to 10 vials of antivenom. Fortunately, they only rarely bite humans and would rather escape than bite.

Behaviour & Humans

As we humans steadily advance and our cities and towns grow, many animals have found it difficult to compete. Green mambas do not appear to be in that situation. These snakes are highly adaptable. Even though human encroachment has caused a loss and fracturing of their preferred habitat, they are quite happy making new homes in dense shrubbery surrounding buildings and homes.

In as much as they have happily moved right into human-created environments, they’re still more likely to flee than fight. Some have said that they were bad-tempered, but others believe that they’re nervous. In any case, they don’t tend towards aggression, and bites are rare unless the snake is startled or harassed.

Evolution and Origin

Though quite an elusive snake, green mambas have been feared by Africans for generations because of their highly venomous bite. It was first discovered in 1849 by zoologist Andrew Smith, who found it in Natal and Maputo Bay. He named it Naja angusticeps. More scientists still tried to name it further, such as in 1865, zoologist Albert Günther called it as Dendroaspis intermedius while in northern Mozambique.

In 1896, things got even more complicated when zoologist George Albert Boulenger put together the green mamba species with that of the black mamba. This remained in place until 1946 when a paper was published by herpetologist Vivian FitzSimons, who noted the differences in coloration, scalation, build, and behavior of the two snake species. This led to their separation, where green mamba was finally on its own again. There still is a close relation, as a 2016 genetic analysis shows the eastern green mamba and the black mamba are close relatives.

Similar Animals

• Western Green Mamba
• Boomslang
• Black Mamba

1. African Snakebite Institute (Western Green Mamba), Available here: https://www.africansnakebiteinstitute.com/snake/african-snakes-western-green-mamba/
2. Louisville Zoo (Western Green Mamba), Available here: https://louisvillezoo.org/animalsandplants/mamba-western-green/
3. African Snakebite Institute (Eastern Green Mamba), Available here: https://www.africansnakebiteinstitute.com/snake/african-snakes-eastern-green-mamba/
4. Indianapolis Zoo (Elapids), Available here: https://www.indianapoliszoo.com/exhibits/deserts/elapids/