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| == '''[[Black mamba]]''' ==
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| ----{{Image|Dendroaspis polylepis.jpg|right|300px|A black mamba.}}
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| The '''Black mamba''' (''Dendroaspis polylepis''), also commonly known as the '''common black mamba''' or the '''black-mouthed mamba'''<ref name= 'ct'>[http://www.toxinology.com/fusebox.cfm?fuseaction=main.snakes.display&id=SN0170 Dendroaspis polylepis] at [http://www.toxinology.com/ Clinical Toxinology Resource]. Accessed 6 May 2012.</ref> is a species of large, highly venomous snake belonging to the Elapidae family and is native to [[Africa]]. The black mamba is the longest venomous snake species in Africa, measuring between 2.5 and 3.2 m (8.2 and 10 ft) in length on average, and capable of growing to lengths of {{convert|4.45|m|ft}}.<ref name='Marais'>Marais, Johan. 2004. ''A Complete Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa''. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik Nature. 95-97 pp. ISBN 1-86872-932-X.</ref> This species is named for the black colouration inside the mouth rather than the colour of its scales which varies from dull yellowish-green to a gun-metal grey. It is the fastest snake in the world, capable of moving at 4.32 to 5.4 metres per second (16–20 km/h, 10–12 mph).<ref name= 'NGS'>[http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/black-mamba/ Black mamba] at [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ National Geographic Society]. Accessed 6 May 2012.</ref> Black mambas are fast, nervous, lethally venomous, and when threatened, highly aggressive. They have been blamed for numerous human deaths, and African myths exaggerate their capabilities to legendary proportions. For these reasons, the black mamba is widely considered to be the world’s deadliest snake.<ref name= 'NGS'/><ref name='myths'>Smith, Roddy. [http://www.wildlife-pictures-online.com/black-mamba.html Black mamba myths and Other snake stories] at ''Wildlife Conservation - Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia''. The Witness. Accessed 6 May 2012.</ref> Before the advent of black mamba antivenom, a bite from this species was 100% fatal, usually within about 20 minutes in very severe cases of envenomation.<ref name= 'NGS'/><ref name= 'PBS'>Lee, Donald. [http://www.thirteen.org/pressroom/pdf/nature/season28/Nature28BlackMambarelease.pdf Black mamba envenomation] at ''[http://www.pbs.org/ Nature-PBS]''. Accessed 6 May 2012.</ref><ref name= 'OShea'>O'Shea, Mark. 2005. ''Venomous Snakes of the World''. United Kingdom: New Holland Publishers. 79 pp. ISBN 0-691-12436-1.</ref>
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Latest revision as of 09:19, 11 September 2020
The Mathare Valley slum near Nairobi, Kenya, in 2009.
Poverty is deprivation based on lack of material resources. The concept is value-based and political. Hence its definition, causes and remedies (and the possibility of remedies) are highly contentious.[1] The word poverty may also be used figuratively to indicate a lack, instead of material goods or money, of any kind of quality, as in a poverty of imagination.
Definitions
Primary and secondary poverty
The use of the terms primary and secondary poverty dates back to Seebohm Rowntree, who conducted the second British survey to calculate the extent of poverty. This was carried out in York and was published in 1899. He defined primary poverty as having insufficient income to “obtain the minimum necessaries for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency”. In secondary poverty, the income “would be sufficient for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency were it not that some portion of it is absorbed by some other expenditure.” Even with these rigorous criteria he found that 9.9% of the population was in primary poverty and a further 17.9% in secondary.[2]
Absolute and comparative poverty
More recent definitions tend to use the terms absolute and comparative poverty. Absolute is in line with Rowntree's primary poverty, but comparative poverty is usually expressed in terms of ability to play a part in the society in which a person lives. Comparative poverty will thus vary from one country to another.[3] The difficulty of definition is illustrated by the fact that a recession can actually reduce "poverty".
Causes of poverty
The causes of poverty most often considered are:
- Character defects
- An established “culture of poverty”, with low expectations handed down from one generation to another
- Unemployment
- Irregular employment, and/or low pay
- Position in the life cycle (see below) and household size
- Disability
- Structural inequality, both within countries and between countries. (R H Tawney: “What thoughtful rich people call the problem of poverty, thoughtful poor people call with equal justice a problem of riches”)[4]
As noted above, most of these, or the extent to which they can be, or should be changed, are matters of heated controversy.
- ↑ Alcock, P. Understanding poverty. Macmillan. 1997. ch 1.
- ↑ Harris, B. The origins of the British welfare state. Palgrave Macmillan. 2004. Also, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- ↑ Alcock, Pt II
- ↑ Alcock, Preface to 1st edition and pt III.
