MAMMAL TRACKS |
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Besides toe number, other basic things to notice when confronted with an unknown track include size, arrangement of prints on the ground, and habitat. For instance, you'd not expect a beaver track to be running along the crest of a mountain. Here are some books on tracks and tracking available at
Amazon.com: |
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Except
for squirrels, dogs and cats, most of the mammals in our backyards are nocturnal
-- they come out at night. That keeps us from seeing most of them most of the time.
However, we can still learn a lot about our neighborhood mammals by learning to identify
their paw prints. With the help of someone who knows tracks, or fieldguides for tracks
such as those 
In fieldguides
usually drawings are presented such as the above showing the subtle differences between
the paw prints of a Coyote and a domestic dog. Actually, in the field the distinctions are
seldom as clear as in such drawings. The slender back pad of the Coyote's back paw is
often not visible unless under almost ideal conditions, such as on firm mud. The picture
at the left shows such ideal conditions. Can you decide whether that print is of a dog,
coyote, or something else? These are dog prints, and the bottom pair show how the dog sat
on its hind legs before proceeding forward.
At the right you
see another track, again under nearly ideal firm-mud conditions, and again the track is of
one of the most commonly found wild-animal tracks in North America. It's the Raccoon.
What's the most conspicuous difference between the raccoon's print and that of a dog?
Well, a dog's paw print shows only four toes, while a raccoon's print shows all five!