I ran into this as I left my house this afternoon…
Luckily, when I screamed “Snake” everyone came running…
“Mambas, of the genus Dendroaspis, are fast-moving tree-dwelling snakes of Africa. ("Dendroaspis" is literally "tree snake".) They belong to the family of Elapidae which includes
cobras, coral snakes, kraits and, debatably, sea snakes, all of which can be extremely deadly. The black mamba is the largest venomous snake in Africa, with an extremely potent neurotoxic venom that attacks the nervous system; the bite is often fatal to humans without access to proper first aid and subsequent antivenin treatment, because it shuts down the lungs and heart… Mambas will detect and get away from humans as fast as possible.” (That’s reassuring!)
“Green Mambas (pictured) possess venom that is roughly equal in potency to that of the Black mamba. However, they are not nearly as aggressive. They are slightly smaller, and are arboreal, whereas the latter is primarily terrestrial… Humans are actually their predators, rather than their prey. For that reason, mambas generally avoid contact with humans. However, if a mamba feels threatened by a human, it may defend itself fiercely… Unlike most other snakes, mambas will strike repeatedly if cornered, and have been reported to bring down a giraffe and a lion with their venom.” – from Wikipedia
