Boiga forsteni
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Boiga forsteni, also known commonly as Forsten's cat snake, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to South Asia. Boiga forstenii is found in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India (Sikkim, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, southern Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand).
The specific name, forstenii, is in honor of Dutch naturalist Eltio Alegondas Forsten (1811–1843). See snake scales for terms used In B. forsteni the anterior palatine and mandibular teeth are considerably larger than the others. The eye is about as long as its distance from the nostril.
The rostral scale is broader than deep, and the internasals are much shorter than the prefrontals. The frontal is nearly as long as its distance from the end of the snout, which is shorter than the parietal scales. The loreal is square or deeper than it is long. There is one preocular scale, extending to the upper surface of the head, and two or three postoculars. The temporal scales are very small and numerous. There are eight to eleven upper... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nehru Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Thiruvananthapuram Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Reddish Peninsular Cat Snake sighting in Yala National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 14th most-seen of the 15 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Reddish Peninsular Cat Snake in Yala National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March, May–June and August–November, the lowest months. That is one of Yala National Park's driest months, with about 45 mm of rain against 340 mm in November.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Reddish Peninsular Cat Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Reddish Peninsular Cat Snake sightings, Yala National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Kanha National Park (India, about 20%).
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Reddish Peninsular Cat Snake that you can see in Yala National Park (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Dhaman (about 20%) and Green Vine Snake (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Reddish Peninsular Cat Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Yala National Park (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
