Anguis colchica
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Anguis colchica, the eastern slow worm, is a species of legless lizard in the family Anguidae found in eastern and northern Europe and Asia. It is easily confused with the common slow worm, due to their physical similarities, and the proximity of their distribution.
The eastern slow worm is part of the slow worm species complex. It was traditionally written as A. f. colchica, a subspecies of the common slow worm, but was later distinguished as a separate species, along with Anguis graeca, Anguis veronensis and Anguis cephalonnica.
Eastern slow worms live primarily in areas with partially closed, forest or shrub vegetation. They can be found most often on the edges of forests, forest clearings, and sometimes on tourist trails, where they can lie down to bask in the sun. They utilise stone piles, stone fences, coarse woody debris, and even the burrows of some rodents as hiding places. They commonly venture into gardens close to their habitat.
Eastern slow worms are mostly crepuscular animals, but are sometimes found to be active during the daytime, especially after rain. Their diet consists of small, slow moving invertebrates such as earthworms... Wikipedia →
Recording0:04
Russia · 2024
© fedascheva · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minsk Zoo | 🇧🇾 Belarus | |
| 2 | Дэльфінарый | 🇧🇾 Belarus |
No species of the same family or order lives in Kyiv, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Slow-worm sighting in Kyiv on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Slow-worm in Kyiv on a given day, against under 5% in November to April, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eastern Slow-worm sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Eastern Slow-worm sightings, Kyiv ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Istanbul (Turkey, about 20%) and Helsinki (Finland, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eastern Slow-worm is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Kyiv (12 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.
