Boiga kraepelini
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Boiga kraepelini, commonly known as the square-headed cat snake, Kelung cat snake, or Taiwanese tree snake, is a mildly venomous species of rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to East Asia and Southeast Asia (Taiwan, China, Vietnam, and Laos). Its specific name, kraepelini, honours Karl Kraepelin, a German naturalist. The common name, Kelung cat snake, refers to its type locality, Keelung in northern Taiwan.
B. kraepelini is a long and thin snake that can grow to a total length (including tail) of 160 cm (63 in). Its head and eyes are large with the head measuring twice the width of the neck. The pupils are cat-like, as is typical for its genus. The colouration of the upper surface of the body and tail is usually amber or brown to copper brown, with irregular brown to diffuse black cross bands along the vertebral line.
B. kraepelini is oviparous. Females lay 5–14 eggs per clutch in summer. B. kraepelini can be quite aggressive, forming a defensive coil and striking in a viper-like fashion when threatened. The properties of the venom are poorly known, but it is considered only mildly venomous... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taipei | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Kelung Cat Snake sighting in Taipei on a given day, based on 90 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 13th 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–July, September and November
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Kelung Cat Snake in Taipei on a given day, against under 5% in February, the lowest month.
Between 8 and 11 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Kelung Cat Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Taipei, in our data
Taipei is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Kelung Cat Snake sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Kelung Cat Snake that you can see in Taipei (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Red-banded Snake (about 10%), Chinese Green Snake (about 10%) and King Ratsnake (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Kelung Cat Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Taipei (90 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.
