Plestiodon elegans
Silhouette: David Orr · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
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 Taipei on a given day, based on 118 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 11th most-seen of the 35 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to September
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Five-striped Blue-tailed Skink in Taipei on a given day, against under 5% in February, the lowest month. Those are among Taipei's wettest months, with about 240 mm of rain a month against 90 mm in February.
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, Taipei ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Fuzhou (China, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Five-striped Blue-tailed Skink is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Taipei (118 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.
