This is the terrifying moment that a wildlife photographer was bitten by one of this subjects - and didn't even realize he had suffered a potentially fatal snake bite until the image was developed.
Mark Laita was taking pictures of snakes for his latest photography project called Serpentine.
The only reason he survived the attack by the black mamba was because it was a dry bite with no venom injected.
A poisoned bite from a black mamba is 100 per cent fatal.
The photographer, who was born in Detroit and raised in Chicago, told New Scientist that he wasn't even aware that the snake had latched on to his leg until he looked at the photographs the following day.
Laita took pictures of snakes in zoos, anti-venom labs and in private collections to highlight the plight of the species which has seen a decline in population due to the destruction of its natural habitat.
