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Animals Tracks

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Do you ever go walking in the woods and see tracks or other signs of animals? Wonder what kind of animal might be close by? How can you know?

First off, to see how good you are at identifying tracks, click over to Track Match, part of the National Wildlife Federation's web site. Here you are shown four sets of tracks and ask d to pick out the tracks of a certain animal, such as a rabbit or a skunk. Good luck. I didn't do that well, but it was fun.

Identifying and Preserving Wildlife Tracks illustrates tracks of an assortment of animals. The only ones I might see in my backyard are the raccoon tracks. This page also tells you how to preserve the tracks by making a plaster cast. Other sites that explain the preservation of tracks using a cast are Bizarre Stuff's Casting Animal Tracks and Collecting Animal Tracks.

The site Animal Tracks, Curing Cabin Fever goes further then just identifying the tracks. It says that with a little knowledge about the species you are observing and its habitat you might be able to tell what the animal was doing at the time. Use your imagination and put yourself in the animal's place. For example, the web site Animal Signs illustrates how you can distinguish between the tracks of a mountain lion and a dog even though the tracks appear similar. The web site also shows how the tracks change depending on the gait of the animal (walking, trotting, loping and galloping).

Another site with pictures of tracks showing the animal walking, hopping or bounding is Animal Tracks & Winter Wildlife Habitat Use.

If you are interested in tracking animals (for fun and to find out more about them, not to hunt them), you might like to look at Animals and Their Tracks . Here you can see tracks of mammals, reptiles, bird, insects and amphibians. There is quite a selection. The author of this web site includes a short section on the natural history of the animal and some personal experiences.

Animal Signs is a lesson in animal tracking. Animals can be tracked using other clues that that they leave behind beside their tracks. In addition to tracks, look for scat (animal wastes), eating marks, body parts (such as hair or feathers), territory markings and sounds.

The copyright of the article Animals Tracks in Science Websites is owned by Patrice Bentham . Permission to republish Animals Tracks in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.