One of Cameroon's Deadliest Snakes
Green mamba
Also known as the West African green mamba, this member of the mamba family is long, thin, and highly venomous. Distinguished by uncharacteristic round pupils and vibrant greenish yellow colouration, it spends most of its time on trees where it is capable of navigating swiftly and gracefully but will also descend to ground level to pursue prey such as rodents and other small mammals. Its venom is a highly potent mixture of rapid-acting presynaptic and postsynaptic neurotoxins (dendrotoxins), cardiotoxins and fasciculins. Meanwhile bites to people are quite uncommon, their mortality rate is high; many of the recorded bites have been fatal. Rapid progression of severe, life-threatening symptoms is hallmarks of its bite. Case reports of rapidly fatal outcomes in as little as 30 minutes, have been recorded for this species.