Fast on the Ground, Gray in Colour: teacher key

Black Mambas, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. The black mamba up close: where it lives, its body, colours and names, its reported speed and how it moves, its day, its food, its venom, its mamba relatives, its conservation status and how it breeds.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does the Guinness World Records list say about the black mamba?
   • It is the fastest land snake (answer)
   • It is the biggest snake
   • It is the slowest snake
2. What does lateral undulation mean for a black mamba?
   • It flies
   • It moves in an S shape (answer)
   • It rolls like a ball
3. How many species are in the genus Dendroaspis?
   • One
   • Forty
   • Four (answer)
4. According to a 2025 study, what is the black mamba's closest relative?
   • The eastern green mamba (answer)
   • A rat
   • The Nile crocodile
5. A black mamba is not highly territorial. What does that suggest?
   • It never leaves its lair
   • It does not strongly defend its home range (answer)
   • It lives in groups of fifty
6. What does refuge mean in: it returns to its refuge?
   • A loud noise
   • A kind of food
   • A safe place to rest (answer)

Words

• polylepis: many scales
• undulation: wavy movement
• refuge: safe place
• neurotoxic: harming nerves
• mambalgins: painkilling proteins
• Elapidae: snake family