Plestiodon elegans
Silhouette: David Orr · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Plestiodon elegans, the five-striped blue-tailed skink or Shanghai elegant skink, is a species of skink. It is found in China, northern Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Senkaku Islands of Japan. Selected body temperature, thermal tolerance and thermal dependence of food assimilation and locomotor performance in adult blue-tailed skinks, Eumeces elegans. WG Du, SJ Yan, X Ji, Journal of Thermal Biology, 2000
Growth, sexual size dimorphism and female reproduction of blue tailed skinks, Eumeces elegans. DU Wei-Guo, JI Xiang, Zoological Research, 2001 Media related to Plestiodon elegans at Wikimedia Commons Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Five-striped Blue-tailed Skink sighting in Nanjing on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 9th most-seen of the 11 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Five-striped Blue-tailed Skink in Nanjing on a given day, against under 5% in October to June, the lowest months.
Between 4 and 7 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Five-striped Blue-tailed Skink sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Among the best
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Five-striped Blue-tailed Skink sightings, Nanjing ranks 4th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Fuzhou (China, about 10%), Taipei (Taiwan, about 10%) and Hangzhou (China, about 10%).
Same family: Scincidae
The closest relatives of the Five-striped Blue-tailed Skink that you can see in Nanjing (family Scincidae, Skinks) are Modest Ground Skink (about 20%) and Indian Forest Skink (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Five-striped Blue-tailed Skink is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Nanjing (11 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.
