Psammophis notostictus
Silhouette: SeismicShrimp · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Psammophis notostictus, the Karoo sand snake or the Karoo whip snake, is a species of mildly venomous snake belonging to the genus Psammophis. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Karoo Sand Snake sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 32nd most-seen of the 35 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May–June and August–September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Karoo Sand Snake in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in July and October–April, the lowest months. Those are among Cape Town's wettest months, with about 95 mm of rain a month against 15 mm in February.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Karoo Sand Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cape Town, in our data
Cape Town is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Karoo Sand Snake sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Karoo Sand Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Cape Town (19 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.
