Could a Fierce Snake or Black Mamba kill an elephant?

Question

Is it possible for a venomous snake, such as the Fierce Snake or Black Mamba to put out enough venom in one bite to kill a full grown African Bush Elephant?

Answer 1

First, I doubt a snake's fang could petetrate. Even assuming petetration, the fang is only about an inch long, at best. The elephant's skin is several inches thick. No way the snake can get its venom into the elephant's blood stream (which would be necessary to harm so big a creature.)

But for the sake of argument, let's say the venom does get in somehow.

The effectivity of venom relies in large part upon the mass of the victim. It takes more vemon kill larger creatures than smaller ones. I don't have figures for the Fierce Snake but the the Mamba can deliver a maximun of 400mg of venom (typical is around 100mg per bite). It takes 10-15mg to kill a full grown human. A full grown african elephant has approximately 50 times more mass than the average human so logically, it should take at least 500mg of venom to kill the elephant. That's more than maximum amount of venom a single mamba can possibly produce and 5 times more venom a single bite typically delivers.

Potentially, a hemotoxic venom could cause nercrosis of the tissue around the snakebite, which might eventually lead to infection and death. However, both snakes mentioned use neurotoxins, not hemotoxins.

So no. It is very unlikely that either snake can kill an elephant.

Answer 2

No elephant have thick skin so their bite wont work

Answer 3

Only if Jesus told them to.