Elaphe dione
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Elaphe dione, commonly known as Dione's rat snake, the steppe rat snake, or the steppes rat snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to Asia and Eastern Europe. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid. A large specimen from Putyatin Island measured up to 90 cm (3.0 ft) in length.
The specific name, dione, refers to the Greek mythological figure Dione who was the mother of Aphrodite. E. dione is found in eastern Ukraine, southern and southeastern Russia, Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, parts of China, and Korea. It is found in a wide variety of habitats including forest, shrubland, grassland, rocky areas, desert, freshwater wetlands, and disturbed areas, at altitudes from sea level to 3,580 m (2.22 mi).
An adult female mates with two or more males, sometimes copulating with two males at the same time. E. dione is oviparous, and adult females lay a clutch of 3–15 eggs in July or August, though some can lay a clutch of up to 24 eggs.
Boulenger GA (1894). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | Aquarium du palais de la Porte Dorée | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Cherkasy Zoo | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 4 | Zoo Samara | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | Zoológico Miguél Álvarez del Toro | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Steppe Rat Snake sighting in Beijing on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 4th most-seen of the 9 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Steppe Rat Snake in Beijing on a given day, against under 5% in November to April, the lowest months. Those are among Beijing's wettest months, with about 80 mm of rain a month against almost none in January.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Steppe Rat Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 4
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Steppe Rat Snake sightings, Beijing ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Busan (South Korea, about 20%), Seoul (South Korea, about 10%) and Almaty (Kazakhstan, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Steppe Rat Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Beijing (14 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
