Deadly venomous snakes of South Africa, mambas, cobras, puff adder, boomslang, twig snake
Some famous deadly venomous snakes live in South Africa. This country is home to two species of mambas - infamous Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) and Eastern Green mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps). Mambas bite only a few people per year. Most snakebites are caused by Puff adders (Bitis arietans) and Mozambique spitting cobras (Naja mossambica). Quite many people are bitten by Cape cobra (Naja nivea) also. In this video you will also see the Rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus) or Ring-necked cobra. Apart from that, we will show you two deadly rear-fanged colubrid snakes - Boomslang (Dispholidus typus) and Southern Twig snake (Thelotornis capensis). Drop for drop, Boomslang is the most venomous snake of Africa! Watch this video with 8 deadly wild snake species from South Africa!
Living zoology videos are so gratifying. There is no loud music, no loud mouths just nature at its finest. Birds are singing, a breeze is blowing, and crickets are cricketing. What more can a viewer ask for.
We are super happy that you like our style of videos! Thank you so much for following our work! 🙂🙏❤️
@@LivingZoology You bet I love you people.
Agreed. Sometimes less is more
you bet, these are the best zoology you tubes around
Incredible cinematography. The pacing of this production is just relaxing and very informative. Snakes deserve our investigation and precautions. Thank you.
Thank you very much!!! We are very happy that you like this video! :)
Some amazing footage. Well done on capturing South Africas most venomous snakes so well.
Many thanks!!! We are very happy that you like this video!!!
What an awesome piece of work! This is the first one of your videos that I've seen, and I'm very impressed. I especially like the lack of voice narration, it put the whole focus on the snakes. I subscribed without giving a second thought. Very well done!
Oh, thank you so much for watching and subscribing! We hope that you will like also many other videos from our channel! 🙂
Your footage of the puff adder by the water, drinking is spectacular!
Thank you so much!!!
I love your videos, cuz i love snakes. ❤ From Punjab,India
Greetings from the Czech Republic!!! Thank you for your support!
@@LivingZoology welcome ❤
Great photography!, cinematography. Just noticed the great sound. It feels like I'm there. Very cool
Awesome, thank you! Happy that it makes you feel like you are there with us!
The sounds & Photography are always Amazing
Many many thanks!
@@composmentis8138 We really appreciate it! :)
Beautiful, as always!
Thanks again! Happy that you enjoyed watching this one!
Now this is gonna be an awesome video. Hope it includes the Boomslang, and Rinkhals.
Of course it includes Boomslang and Rinkhals! :)
@@LivingZoology _QUE MIEDO PAPA!!! 🐍_
Great photography as usual. Love your snake videos.
Awesome, thank you! Happy that you like our videos!
..... Upload . More and more videos .. about.. snake's....🔥🔥💓💓💓💓💓❤️❤️
We are trying to upload many snake videos! 🙂❤️🐍
My favourite venomous snakes of Africa the Black Mamba & Eastern Green Mamba are beautiful 😍 🤩 Great Encounters 👍
Thank you very much!!! Happy that your favorite species are in this video! :)
Thank you for a video without loud annoying music. Just the beauty of the snakes 🐍 well done!
Glad you enjoyed it! Happy that you like our style! :)
Scaly dragons
This is a wonderful survey of some incredible animals. Loved it. It also reminded me to go back and rewatch some of the individual videos. You have an impressive body of work. Look forward to the next one!
Many thanks! 🙂Some of the individual videos are still in preparation, some involve footage from different countries. Happy that you are checking the ones which are already online! 🙂 Next time there will be a snake species from Europe 🐍
Wow! Beautiful snakes and landscapes and photography. Love your videos so much.
Many thanks!!! We are happy to hear that you like our videos in general!
Astounding Include Yellow bellied snake also.
yellow bellied sea snake, can't think of the latin name now, not indigenous to south africa, but found in our waters and sometimes on the beaches.
We hope to be super lucky to find it one day! :)
Am the first to comment on this video, am happy for It, I can't wait to watch it.
First one to comment, wow! :) Nice!
@@LivingZoology You are welcome.
Your work is beautiful! I love hearing all the natural sounds and not anyone talking - Thank You !!
Thank you very much! We are happy that you like the style of our videos!
Excellent video, thank you so much for the brilliant camera work too, it was amazing!!
Thank you very much! It is great to know the positive feedback! :)
Amazing! Thank you so much! I know LOVE all snakes!!
You are so welcome! We are happy that you love this video and all snakes! :)
Venomous snakes are beautiful but terrifyingly fascinating.
You are right! We are totally amazed by them :)
The colour on the ‘green’ boomslang is stunning, an iridescent turquoise amongst others. Fabulous footage as always 👍🏻
Many thanks! Yes, that snake was absolutely stunning!
Videography is superb, the best! And you've left yourselves plenty more subjects-- the other 2 mamba species, the forest cobras, Bitis, Atheris, etc. Keep up the excellent work.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, some of those other species we have filmed in different countries, some we still have to find and film!
finally something about snakes I can watch without hearing someone talk. ❤️ Thanks! keep up the good work
Thanks for watching! Happy that you like it!
I love your videos. So relaxing and interesting. Thx for sharing.
Thanks for watching! Very happy that you are watching our videos regularly.
Exceptional photography. Love the soundtrack too!
Thank you so much!!!!
Unbelievable footage, great camera work. What a great piece. I find these animals so fascinating.
Thank you so much!!! We are happy that you like our work, please consider subscribing and checking more on our channel!
Great video Matej, thank you so much.
Thank you for watching, Alfa! :)
Fantastic informative footage, thank you very much
Many thanks! Very happy that you like it!!
I was a little zapped as i did not see the forest cobra and more species of vipers, but was happy to learn about Rinkhals as i did feel the scales of this snake were different from normal cobra. Please show more venomous snakes of Africa. Awesome video loved every moment of it. 🥰🥰🥰
We decided to show only deadly venomous species in this video (we found 3 dwarf adders also but those are a bit less venomous). In terms of Forest cobra and other cobras, we hopefully will find them next time :) We very rarely find all our target species in one trip, it is not easy to find some snakes! Happy that you enjoyed watching this video even with those 8 species we found :)
Very awesome the quality pictures are amazing and description very clear ! A great vid like usual ✌️✌️✌️🐍🐍
Glad you enjoyed! Happy that you are following our channel! :)
I really like your films. The computer screen is as close as I want to get!
Thank you very much for watching, you will get close (but not too close) with us! :)
Amazing,our boomslangs and puff adders here in Mpumalanga are completely different
Thank you for watching! How do they look like in Mpumalanga?
What wonderful idyllic scenery and relaxing bird songs they all put me to sleep but the snakes keep me alert it seems the countryside is teeming with them so I’ll just stick to a hotel and a good book with AC :-)
Yes, snakes are present in nature of Africa and in the most other continents :) But in general it is really difficult to find them, they are shy. So don't worry and go to nature! :) Thank you very much for watching!
Thank you Matej and Zuzana! I am heading to South Africa in couple of days to work with snakes and this vedio is of huge help. I am downloading it. Very informative stuffs. You guys must have worked quite hard for this. It all seems worthy though. Loads of thanks.
Thank you very much for watching!!! Happy that you like this video. We spent one month in SA and worked hard to film all these snakes. Good luck in SA! What kind of project you are going to be involved in?
Yes indeed. It must be a huge effort. I am going to join a team in Zululand where they are trying to develop new ways to produce antivenom in highly reduced costs, easily made and can be more accessible.
@@amodghimire That sounds great, good luck with your work there! Enjoy!
Very VERY COOL , Thank you for sharing these videos.
Thanks for watching! We are happy that you like our video. Check out some more please!
Outstanding visuals keep going
Thank you very much!!! :)
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for without doubt your finest video ever. Beautifully filmed with some amazing close ups. Just how do you do it??? You featured my all time two favourite species, the Boomslang, alongside the Rinkhals. The Cobra's featured deseved to be included, as did the little known Twig snake, (is this sometimes referred to as The Vine Snake?) Perhaps another video to include the Forest and Snouted Cobras plus some other Vipers. But once again thank you, i will be watching it again....and again......and again......
Wow, we are truly honored that you love this video! :) It is a result of hard work lasting one month and traveling around whole South Africa :) We were very happy to work with Twig snake (yes, sometimes called Vine snake) and Rinkhals. Maybe next time we will find also Forest cobra or Snouted cobra! Once again thank you so much!
@@LivingZoology Snouted Cobra??? A video on that would be great.
@@jazzbariman Maybe next time we will find it :)
African twig looks very much same as Indian twig.... just that the Indian twig is semi-venomous.......
Forest cobra and snouted cobra. Cape cobra appears in the Eastern Cape too. I think that you forgot about the puffadder.☺
In this video we showed snake species which we found in SA :)
Because of your videos, im getting less scared of this beautiful creatures! Even we dont have (deadly) snakes here in the Netherlands, I used to be so scared, just by picturing it..
Glad that our videos help you to overcome the fear of snakes!!! It makes us very happy to read comments like this! :)
Beautiful Thanks for providing this type of education Great
Our pleasure! Very happy that you like this video!
Loved this video! New subscriber
Thanks for watching and subbing!
Nice video. Just some corrections: “Imfezi” means “Cobra” not “Snake”. Snake is “Inyoka” in Zulu. Imfezi is a specific snakes. Zulu is very specific when delineating the different kinds of snakes.
Thank you for watching and for this information!
The photography was really good.....
Thank you very much for watching! :)
Informative video ... you just got a new subscriber ;)
Welcome aboard! Amazing, thank you!!!
I am guessing you were in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Zululand on this trip! My old Home!!! I hope you had a great trip
We traveled across South Africa and also visited your beautiful Kwa-Zulu Natal! We had an amazing trip!
Iam always amazed at the beautiful variety of color patterns on these special creatures! So beautiful to see them thriving in comfort and peace away from mainstream of society! Not a bunch of bothery people! If I were a snake, I would not want some human to come around grabbing my tail or sticking me inside a bag! This is much better! Letting the snakies have a peaceful existance. Lovely!! 🌸⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍
Thank you so much!! We always love to observe snakes in their natural habitat, amazing animals! 🐍🐍🐍❤️
Absolutely insane, perfect, great pictures, gods creation is unbelievable! The snake, the temptation from the beginning .-)))
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Beautiful video!!!!!!
Thank you very much! Happy that you like it!!!
Excellent work. Thankyou
Thank you too! Happy that you enjoyed watching this video.
Amazing footages
Many thanks!
Great video. Thanks!
Glad you liked it! Thank you for watching!
I'm glad here in Uruguay ,South America we don't have such terrible snakes ,and in South America we are the only country with no deaths because of venomous snakes , for more than 70 years , millions of years ago ,Africa and South America were united , fortunately for us , those lethal snakes remained there , greetings from Uruguay
You have some venomous snakes in Uruguay though. Thank you for watching!
I love your videos ❤️. I am South African in my region there's a lot of puff adders people always stone them to death it is very sad 😥
Yes Because they are dangerous. Please be carefull.
Thank you very much for watching our videos! :) Happy to know somebody from South Africa is our fan! It is a pity that many people still kill snakes :/
The mamba is for me the Rolls Royce of snakes .A Beautiful creature.
Thank you for watching! Yes, mambas are beautiful!
This is amazing sir ❤️🔥
Thank you so much!!! ❤
@@LivingZoology They look like little monsters ;)
I cant tell you how much I enjoy these quiet nature videos with text as opposed to a person explaining everything for you aloud, like in Blue Planet or other documentaries, great job!
Glad you love watching our videos! It is an honor for us! Thank you!
Beautiful and dangerous work. Be greatfull
Thank you very much for watching!
Absolutely spectacular
Thank you very much!!!
Fascinating - thoroughly enjoyed this video. thank you for posting 👍🐍 Marianne NZ
Glad you enjoyed it!!! Thank you for watching!!
That puff adder is absolutely beautiful
We like that they are very variable in color!
The eye of the Puff, half brown half creme....amazing!
Yes, they have amazing eyes!
Forest cobra, snouted cobra and Gaboon viper occur in the forested areas of KwaZulu-Natal?☺
In this video we showed snake species which we found in SA :)
Wow, the black mamba is definitely alert and skittish at the same time
Yes, it is a snake which is always alert!
Another great video. And as always I have questions. The Rinkhall's playing dead: Does that really work? What would stop a predator from eating it, if it were caught playing dead? I am curious about the fangs of these snakes. I do not trust too many other sites with their treatment of the snakes and really no other KZhead channel here to give me a good idea of the fang structure of these snakes. Do you have a video or will you do a video of the fang sets that snakes have? Which venom is worse, Black or Green Mamba? Can the two species mate with one another? What do you mean by "smooth scales?" The Puff Adder does not look to me to be a speedy snake in any sense of the word speedy. They look like a large sausage at best. Can snakes be over weight? How old would a black mamba be to reach 3 meters? Why don't many get to that length? Is it people or natural predators or disease? Lastly, are there diseases that these snakes could transmit to people? Or is their biggest threat to people their venom? Frankly, after my week I have had with some of the vermin around my house I would gladly have taken a very hungry venomous snake, if I knew it would take care of all my problem critters. Some critters are definitely worse that a venomous snake hanging around a home, in my book. Any way, enough of my questions for now. Great video. I learned a good deal today and, as always, great videography. The pictures are stunningly beautiful. Thank you.
Very happy for more questions and for the fact that you enjoyed watching the video! :) Yes, it works when snakes play dead, we have footage of Grass snakes doing it from our country, it will come in the future. Many predators loose their interest, some snakes also start to smell badly (secretion from cloaca). If we will be covid negative tomorrow and everything goes well we will continue filming venom extractions in Kenya so there is a possibility of a video showing different types of fangs/dentitions :) Black and green mambas have very similar toxins - potent neurotoxins. Green mambas (3 species) have distinct ranges and overlap mostly only with Black mamba, which has a different lifestyle. They don't hybridize, their evolutionary distance is too big and ecology too different. Smooth scales are smooth when you touch them, typical for many elapids and colubrids. On the other hand, for vipers keeled scales are typical. They have a keel and they are rough if you touch them. Puff adder is a slow snake, but it is one of the fastest strikers in snake world. They are super fast with a strike! Snakes can be over weight, especially in the captivity. 3 meters long mamba can be over 5 years old, but also 10 years old, even more. There are very little data about aging in snakes. The reason why big snakes are rare today is because people kill them earlier than they can grow to a massive size. We don't know about any disease which is transmitted from snakes to humans. Reptiles and mammals typically don't share common diseases. We agree, having a venomous snake around a house is great against rodents! Thank you very much for watching again!
@@LivingZoology One thing I have been thinking about lately is I wonder a system has not been developed that could warn people if a particular snake is in the area. You and others tag them. Couldn't something that would show the location of a cell phone be placed in a snake to track it and with the right setup in a home give the owner a warning that a venomous snake that has been tagged is in the area? The implications for this are huge, particularly if someone wanted to hunt the snakes or if such a device was placed in a human, but still could not some form of technology be used to prtect and warn human populations that a mamba was in the area? There may be things that repel mambas as well. In my area of living we use differnt animal scents to repel vermin of all sorts. Is there something that a home owner could spray to deter these snake from hanging around? With the low numbers of bites and deaths from bites, it seems that the snakes' diets might have an indirect benefit to farms, people, and pets. When you do the video on venom extractions, please add something about what the venom is used for. It cannot all be for antivenin. Thank you again for replying to my message and answering my questions. These venomous snakes are fascinating. The puff adder better have a fast strike. I think the one in the video was passed by moss growing :) Enjoy the week. Keep having fun and keep making the videos.
Super....
Thanks!
Tyler Mac there are people here too with buildings birds and snakes
Thank you for watching!
Mmmm, chock full of deadliness. Well done.
Thank you very much!
good job.my question is what is the killing rate of these animals especially puff adders.how many of them give permanent damage to a victim.like paralizing or damage on tge skin that people can see. and last question..in how many hours you need to take antivenom if you bitten by the snakes.i remember austin stevens once bitten by cobra then rushed to hospital.after medical treament he returned to area that he got bitten.it took few hours only.i think he was lucky
Snakebite topic is very individual, every bite is different. The sooner you can get to the hospital the better. In general, neurotoxin kill faster (mambas, many cobras) than cytotoxins and hemotoxins (Puff adders, Gaboon vipers, Boomslang). Most people in Africa are killed by Puff adders and Saw-scaled vipers.
you should include the stiletto snake, so few people know what it is, and yet iv come across a fair number in the Kruger region ( the problem comes when people see this unassuming small black worm/brown house snake looking thing, pick it up and get whacked! nasty bite too, no anti-venom
Hopefully we will find it next time! :)
What would happen if you were to introduce the king Cobra along with the inland taipan as well as rattle snake? Would they thrive and coexist with the native snakes or would they pose a problem?
No one would ever do this but I'd guess only the king cobra could find a niche that wasn't already better filled by a native snake.
@@missano3856 i know, but humans are crazy after all look at florida. It's filled with invasive species. But i was just curious to see. It's like would a jaguar for example adapt to living in the jungles of Africa as it has to it's now native habitat? I read somewhere a while back that they've thought about introducing kangaroos to the great plains out in Texas. But, yeah you're right.
Nobody knows. The thing with ecosystems is that you never know what chance would bring introducing a new species or taking a species out of the equation. That is why playing with this is dangerous.
My favorite is the boomslang
Good choice! Absolutely stunning species.
A pure defination of nature doing the talking
Thank you!
I have already watched this video..
Hopefully you liked it!
As always, a wonderful video. I would disagree though with your description and characterization of the black mamba. Graham "Dingo" Dinkelman--a conservationist based in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa (check out his KZhead videos), calls the the black mamba the #1 most dangerous snake in the world. You say it might be "shy and reclusive", but in reality, it comes into contact with human beings often. This is probably due to human habitats expanding into areas which they would normally occupy. Yeah, they want nothing to do with humans, but they are a nervous, high strung snake. They will not hesitate to bite, sometimes multiple times.
Thank you for watching! We agree that Black mamba is the most dangerous snake in the world - if you are working with it and handling it! The most dangerous snakes in the world in terms of number of bitten and killed people are Saw-scaled vipers, Puff adders, Russell's vipers or Terciopelos. Dingo lives in Kwa-Zulu Natal, where according to our experience (around Durban) is the only area in Sub-Saharan Africa (coast of Kenya is another good spot but still far away from Durban) where Black mambas often come to human houses and are in close contact with people. Otherwise in other African countries it is extremely difficult to find a Black mamba! Such a shy and elusive snakes. Most snakes are striking and trying to defend themselves if you threaten them and they cannot escape.
@@LivingZoology Many thanks for your reply, which makes sense. Keep up the good work!
@@vincesjm Very welcome, thank you! Stay safe!
@@LivingZoology black mambas can be extremely aggressive and are known chase people or go up on its tail to attack people of cars
Nice
Thanks!!
Cool
Thank you!
If you want Mambas longer than 3 meters go and look around Mkuzi in Eastern Natal near the Mozambique border. There are thousands of them.
Have you measured any of them?
@@LivingZoology yes a few times we have had our game guards kill one which which got in a house or a chicken pen and they average from 3.5 meters up. I once had one rear up at me that lifted above my head and I was looking up at it. I am 6 “2 tall. If you ask at Leopard mountain or Mavela farm they should be able to help you find the really large ones as they are found more in certain areas than others.
How on earth does the Boomslang strike in a thorn tree like that! 😮
It may strike even in a very dense and thorny bush. These snakes are like ghosts!
Can't read your text because too small and doesn't show up on lighter backgrounds. Might should increase font size and outline it in black
We are working on improvements!
Is it just me, or do mambas have the look like their born pissed off.
To us mambas look like they are smiling! :)
@@LivingZoology There is something about their eyes like King Cobras, cribos or eastern indigo snakes, they look intelligent. My ball python looks kind of silly most of the time. I think they look like they're smiling as well.
Nice Nice
Thanks!
13:51 "Give that man an Oscar!!!" 🤣🤣 godammit!
Yes, he deserves it! 😀
I wonder which venom is more potent, the boomslang or the twig snake ?
Both are very strong, we read an article indicating that Twig snake might have even stronger venom!
@@LivingZoology maybe that's why there's no antivenom for twig snake's bite
I live in south africa and most venomous snakes are very defensive and try to keep their distance from humans. Puff adder on the other hand stands it's ground. Doesn't budge an inch 😅
You are right, most snakes move away quickly. Puff adders are slow, so they have to stand their ground.
Mamba,mandela,Adder,mbeki,Cobra,ramaposa...
Thank you for watching!
I always thought of South Africa as the safest country to live away from dangerous wildlife on the African continent, but it’s just as bad and as dangerous as most of the rest! I didn’t realize that was the main place where black mambas are found.
And a Gaboon adder aswell
This video shows snake species which we managed to find and film.
How do you find out the snakes from these large areas?
We work hard, walk a lot during the day or night, we road cruise, we cooperate with snake rescuers etc.
@@LivingZoology Great and appreciate the efforts you putting for viewers.
Beautiful video, but I hate snakes.🐍🐍🐍
Thank you for watching! Hopefully after watching more videos on our channel you will change your opinion about snakes!
@@LivingZoology I hope so. 🐍🐍🐍
Which is more dangerous black mamba or green mamba
The Black mamba is more dangerous.
What are South African cobra colours & those of a rattlesnake?
Cape cobras are extremely variable in color, from yellow to almost black, reddish, orange, olive, etc. Check some color variation in rattlesnakes here: kzhead.info/sun/Zt19n6qCr2KGZq8/bejne.html
incredible video i hope the camera man or woman wasent bitten beautifull but deadly
Thank you very much!!! Nobody was bitten, don't worry :)
Wow
Thank you very much!
Why are the 3m+ mambas rear these days . I had read they can get even bigger than 3 meters
Big snakes are rare because people kill these reptiles often. It is rare that a snake lives so long so it can reach its maximum size
We know a black mamba is very venomous and lightning fast, but at least it doesn't keep chasing you when you run away like a geelslang (Cape cobra)😅 Those things can be very aggressive
No snake will chase you on purpose. Many people think that snakes chase them when they slither towards them. Usually, there is a good hiding place behind them where the snake wants to go.
@@LivingZoology I was also under the impression, until one "followed" me hooded up (I hope that is the correct term)
A Puff Adder bit my Mother in Law- Poor snake convulsed for an hour before it died....My Mother in Law barely knew she had been bitten.
Thank you for watching, your story sounds like it is just a dream…
@@LivingZoology Yeah, wishful thinking !
What would happen to you if you inhaled airborne cobra venom from a spitter? Would it enter your lungs, and bloodstream?
If you inhale it it does not enter your bloodstream, only if you have some bad wound inside. But some people have allergic reaction if they inhale the venom in the air.
@@LivingZoology wow interesting, the spitting delivery has interested me since watching a Steve Irwin documentary on them when I was a boy. Thank you again for your videos and your all your work ♥️
@@realfnneato3111 Very welcome and thank you! :)
Why is there no anti venom to the twig snake.?
It bites very few people, so the production of antivenom is not profitable.