People given antivenoms against mamba bites often initially get better, only to start experiencing effects of the venom again, often with fatal consequences. New research reveals the reason and offers a path to life-saving solutions, but leaves questions about snake family relationships unanswered. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Black mambas have a deadly enough reputation to feature in songs from the other side of the world. Africa also has three species of green mamba. Professor Bryan Fry of the University of Queensland told IFLScience, “Cobras and puffadders bite more people, but mambas have a higher mortality rate, despite the fact that polyvalent antivenoms all include them.”

That’s in large part because peo

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