Tracking Animals

If your child becomes interested in the activities of wild mammals, you can join him or her in a fascinating hobby: hunting for footprints and identifying them. Although knowledge of animal tracks is no longer necessary for survival, it can help satisfy a child’s desire to play nature detective.

How to Identify Tracks
     You may start track-hunting by going to likely places such as muddy stream banks and finding tracks there, identifying them later – or you may first obtain a background for field study from books and observations near home. In your own back yard you may find the tracks of dogs, cats, and squirrels.
     A dog’s tracks practically duplicate those of a wolf or coyote except that the wolf tracks are usually larger. The tracks of a cat are similar to those of the wildcat and mountain lion except for size. In these tracks only the pads and claws make an imprint.
     Bears, skunks, and raccoons make plantigrade tracks, which means that they are practically flat-footed, and the greater part of the foot shows in the tracks. Deer, sheep, moose and elk make hoofed tracks.
     Another clue for identification is that tree-climbing animals normally place their front feet side by side when they jump, whereas animals that stay on the ground rarely show the front feet paired in this way. However, the hind feet of both tree-climbing and ground-living animals are generally paired.
     Raccoon tracks are particularly intriguing, for this animal’s hind foot is long with a well-marked heel and five comparatively short toes that make an impression remarkably like that of a small human foot.

Collecting Tracks
     Children are eager collectors. If they wish to carry their interest in tracking still further, it is sometimes possible to bring tracks home – in plaster. Making plaster casts of tracks is not a difficult process. Pamphlets or books in your library should provide detailed instructions for preparing such casts.
     There are other ways to collect tracks – photographing them or sketching them. Neither you nor your child need be an artist to try this; a simple sketch will picture a footprint quite graphically.

Tracks Tell a Story
     Tracks can reveal exciting incidents, such as a fox overtaking a rabbit, or a weasel pouncing on a squirrel – or they may depict peaceful animals wandering in search of shelter and food. After a fresh snowfall tracks are particularly clear and easy to follow. Here are some examples of animal tracks.