Winter Tracking

     Sure its cold out there, its winter after all, but the snow can give us so much insight into the animal world around us.  Unlike the rest of the year, the snow records the travels of the mammals who are sharing our forests and neighborhoods with us.  Deciphering the tracks is not very difficult, if you know what to look for.
     I found this print the other day.  You can very clearly see the pads of the foot and at least three toenails/claws.  Thankfully, it wasn't the only print, there was a series of prints, which are known as tracks.
    When looking at tracks, you can quickly narrow down what the animal is by looking at the type of track pattern that the animal is exhibiting.  This one is a perfect walker, which means that this animal places its hind feet in the exact spot as its front feet. So, there are only two prints, not four, left behind. There are other animals that aren't so "perfect" and you will find their hind foot print close, but not on top of their front foot print.  They are called imperfect walkers.  Other mammals, like squirrels, mice, and rabbits have large back legs and leap or hop when they move from place to place, so they are known as leapers.  Finally, members of the weasel family have four feet that are about the same size and bound when they move, so they are called bounders.

     Perfect walkers include animals like cats, dogs, and deer.  With pads and toenails present in these prints, it is certainly not a deer.  However, it could be a feline or a canine.  Our next step involves a handy measuring tape.  The two primary measurements that we need to take are the width of the trail that the animal has made (called the straddle) and the distance from the middle of one print to the next (called the stride).  This animal's straddle is about 10 centimeters and its stride is about 30 centimeters.  Those measurements are too large for a house cat and too small for a bobcat or coyote.  What's left?  How about a fox!  Now the question is:  Is it a gray fox or a red fox?
     In order to answer that question, we will need to measure the size of the print itself.  Using the handy measuring tape again, we can see that the print is 5 centimeters long and 4 centimeters wide.  That is a little small for a red fox, but perfect for a gray fox!
      These tracks give us about the only proof that we have gray foxes living at Lutherlyn.  They are very surreptitious and have only been seen rarely at camp.  However, we find tracks nearly every time that we go out in the winter.  We don't have to go far from main camp, either.  One gray fox has a habit of travelling by the lower lake nearly every night.
    When we teach students about animal tracking, they learn how to use a measuring tape and key to identify tracks.  We have created "tracking boards" for sixteen different animals.  These boards have realistically sized tracks with appropriate strides and straddles for each animal.  It is a great way for students to practice their measuring skills and learn how to use a key.  With a little practice, this knowledge can unlock all kinds of animal mysteries.