Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)

[Nightflight99]

Originally Posted by prairiepanda

There was once I was showing an MBK to someone and they insisted that it was extremely dangerous with highly potent venom. Tried to tell me it was a black mamba

This seems to be a universal problem all over the world. I've done a lot of international field work for research, and in many countries just about any snake is immediately labeled as whatever the most notorious local species is. For example, throughout sub-Saharan Africa, anything that is green or grey/brown/black is always considered to be a mamba. In Latin America, the culprit is usually a rattlesnake or a species of lancehead.

[Jim Smith]

Originally Posted by Nightflight99

This seems to be a universal problem all over the world. I've done a lot of international field work for research, and in many countries just about any snake is immediately labeled as whatever the most notorious local species is. For example, throughout sub-Saharan Africa, anything that is green or grey/brown/black is always considered to be a mamba. In Latin America, the culprit is usually a rattlesnake or a species of lancehead.

There is a fair amount of that level of thinking here in the US as well. I live on a 50 acre lake that, as expected, has plenty of water snakes, mainly banded or brown water snakes. Whenever I talk to anyone on the lake they ALWAYS insist that they see Water Moccasins "all the time". I am the lake manager and fish the lake more than any other residents and in the past 10 years, I've never seen a Water Moccasin on this lake. They seem to think that every water snake is a moccasin and as such should be killed immediately.

[Nightflight99]

Originally Posted by Jim Smith

Whenever I talk to anyone on the lake they ALWAYS insist that they see Water Moccasins "all the time".

It really is amazing how many people get that wrong. I once had a fellow snake enthusiast swear up and down that there were tons of cottonmouths in the canal behind his house. When I went out there with him, they all turned out to be harmless water snakes. He was so convinced that they were cottonmouths that he actually freaked out when I grabbed one of the water snakes with my hands to prove it to him.