A Snake With a Blue-Black Mouth: teacher key

Black Mambas, grade 3 edition, written for 3rd grade. Learn where black mambas live, why a gray snake is called black, how fast one has been reported to slither, what it sees, how it spends its day, what it eats and how its eggs hatch.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What gives the black mamba its name?
   • The blue-black inside of its mouth (answer)
   • Its black body
   • Its black eyes
2. About how fast has a black mamba been reported slithering, at most?
   • About 2 kilometres an hour
   • About 20 kilometres an hour (answer)
   • About 90 kilometres an hour
3. How long do black mamba eggs take to hatch?
   • About 2 years
   • About 2 days
   • About 2 to 3 months (answer)
4. What does a black mamba mainly use its eyesight for?
   • To notice movement (answer)
   • To read
   • To find water
5. Black mambas eat rats. How does that help?
   • It makes more rats
   • It helps keep small rodents down (answer)
   • It cleans the water
6. What does basking mean in: they spend time basking in the sun?
   • Digging in the sand
   • Hiding from the sun
   • Resting in the sun (answer)

Words

• savannas: grassy lands
• basking: resting in sun
• rodents: gnawing animals
• termite: small insect