Nutrition
The Black Mamba is a heterotroph, as are all organisms in the
kingdom Animalia, which means it has to hunt and kill its food.
It is also a carnivore, as opposed to a herbivore or detritivore,
meaning that it eats other animals. Black mambas are diurnal
snakes which means that they will hunt during the day in order
to capture its prey. They are cold- blooded
however, and do require a significant amount of basking time in
the sun to heat their bodies up. The prey of the black
mamba includes a variety of different organisms that include
smaller mammals and birds such as voles, mice, squirrels and
rats. To learn more about one of the prey of the black mamba, click
here.
Photo Courtesy of Tad 20D,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11304433@N00/421599942/
But
they do have the ability to take down larger prey as well. Black
mambas have been found with parrots in their stomach as well as
Forest Cobras. When attacking some animals it will bite once,
injecting its venom, and release. It will then wait while the
animal scurries away and the venom slowly kills it. At this
point the mamba will move in to have its meal. Other smaller
animals, it will attack and squeeze with its muscular body until
paralysis sets in on the prey. This latter technique is the
same one used to take down its aerial prey: birds. To
learn more about another vicious predator, click
here.
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