Eastern green mamba
Ordinary Mamba ( Dendroaspis angusticeps )
The Ordinary Mamba ( Dendroaspis angusticeps ) and narrow head - mamba is a venomous snake of the genus Mambas, which occurs from Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe up to Natal.
Features
It is normally 2 m long, but may reach 2.7 m. The long narrow head is barely on the neck. The eyes are large and round pupils. The inside of the mouth is white to bluish white (as opposed to the Black Mamba ). The body is elongated and very mobile. Its color is light green. However, the young are still blue green at birth. For each shedding their color from head to tail is progressively more and more about in the Adult coloration.
The Ordinary Mamba has seven to ten upper lip shields. The fourth touched the lower edge of the eye. The scales are elongated and ungekielt and are available in 17 to 21 rows. There are 201-232 abdomen and 96-126 tail shields. In the males, the number of ventral scales is usually lower.
Way of life
The Ordinary Mamba lives in evergreen thickets and gallery forests near the river. Comes in the same area before the Black Mamba, they lived in open ground, while the Ordinary Mamba stays in thick bushes. It also penetrates into homes and hiding under thatched roofs. It feeds mainly on birds and their eggs, but also of small mammals and lizards.
Before mating, the males measure in Kommentkämpfen their strength. You end up with the flight of the weaker ones. The eggs are laid from October to November in piles of leaves on the ground or in hollow trees filled with humus. The slip of the boys takes place from late December to February.
System
In addition to the ordinary Mamba there are three other species in the genus Dendroaspis:
- Black Mamba ( Dendroaspis polylepis )
- Green Mamba ( Dendroaspis viridis)
- Jameson's Mamba ( Dendroaspis jamesoni )
Toxic effect
The poison of the ordinary Mamba is very dangerous for humans, but only about half as strong as the Black Mamba. After a bite immediate treatment with a species-specific snake serum is absolutely necessary for survival. The toxins of mamba species contain Dendrotoxine that block potassium channels in the cell membrane. This results in a disturbance of the electrical stimulation propagation in the heart, and there is the risk of a cardiac arrhythmia.