Traces of various animals in the snow. Pathfinder: We read the tracks of animals. Hedgehog and mole type of tracks
In the practice of tracking, in most cases, the determination of the belonging of a track to one or another animal is made at first sight, by impression. If necessary, then its further more or less detailed study is carried out. The ability to determine the footprint is quickly acquired, of course, with experience, but it can be accelerated by dividing animal footprints into groups according to their common features, the most conspicuous, conspicuous.
Signs may relate to a trail, a trail, a paw print, their size, shape - it doesn’t matter if they are noticeable and characteristic. One and the same type of footprints may include traces of animals belonging to different systematic groups, not related by close phylogenetic relationship, but having similar footprints. Therefore, we call this classification of traces practical, designed to facilitate the practice of tracking. In all other cases, when considering animals, we adhere to the system of vertebrates adopted in the main manuals in the Soviet Union (Sokolov, 1973, 1977, 1979; Kartashov, 1974; Bannikov et al., 1971).
Utility practical classification traces and the timeliness of its introduction are visible at least from the fact that some zoologists use the expressions "types of traces", "traces different type”(Dulkeith, 1974), without giving them, however, the meaning of units of classification.
For tracks not listed here, the tracker can write his own description, make drawings, and determine by observation which animal they belong to.
Hedgehog type of traces. Paw prints of this type are distinguished by rather long spread fingers. The track is wide, the pace is short. This type of footprints tend to be small; animals - hedgehogs, water rats, hamsters, mole voles (Fig. 1, a - h).
Rice. 1. Hedgehog (a - h) and mole (i, k) types of tracks (cm)
a - track hedgehog; b - prints of the paws of an ordinary hedgehog (2.8X2.8);
c - track eared hedgehog(2.0X1.8); d - e - prints of the front and hind paws
water rat (1.7X2.4 - 1.9X2.4); g - footpath of a baby mole rat on the sand
(1.4X1.4 - 1.6X1.5); h - trail track gray hamster; and - footpath of the European
mole on loose snow; k - trail of the mole moger on dense snow
Mole type of traces. Footprints of moles on the surface of the soil or on snow cover it is very difficult to see: moles rarely come out of their holes, and if this happens, then the substrate is far from always soft enough for the traces to be imprinted. In winter, you can still find traces of a mole in the snow. The trail of these animals in the snow is a groove in which the prints of the hind legs are visible, located on close range from each other. The front, burrowing paws leave only weak imprints: they take little part in moving along the surface. The step length barely exceeds the width of the trace track (Fig. 1, i, j).
Type of traces of shrews and mice. These are traces of small mammals. The larger hind paws of shrews, mice, and voles leave paired prints, behind which the smaller prints of the forepaws are located at an insignificant distance. On loose snow, their tail leaves a more or less long groove. In addition to the gallop, the animals can use the trot, while paw prints on the trail are not arranged in pairs, but sequentially (Fig. 2, 3).
Rice. 2. Type of footprints of small mammals
Trace tracks: a - c - shrews of the lesser shrew; b - on short jumps,
in - on long; d, d - cutters for the first powder; f - a large specimen of the bank vole;
g - half-adult wood mouse
Rice. 3. Type of traces of mouse-like rodents and shrews
Paw prints and footprints: a, b - field mouse;
c - a small specimen of a gray vole on loose snow; g - a larger specimen
a gray vole (its trail is similar to a small weasel's two-footed);
d, c - shrews common shrew on light snow; w - piebald
shrew shrews - on the sand
Canine footprints. This type includes traces of fast running animals. The front paws are five-fingered, but the first toe is high and does not leave a trace. The hind legs are four-toed.
Claws, crumbs of fingers (one per finger), metacarpal and metatarsal crumbs are imprinted on the ground. The trails are varied, but one of them is very characteristic: paw prints are covered and arranged in a single line. Dog-type tracks are left by animals from the canine family, and also, apparently, by the cheetah (Fig. 4).
Rice. 4. Doggy type of tracks
Paw prints and tracks (cm): a, b - dogs; c, d - wolf (9.6X7.5);
e, f, f, i - foxes (6.2x5.0); h - the right front paw of a karaganka -
small steppe fox (5.6X4.6); k, l - foxes on loose snow (6.6X5.3);
m - fox gallop in deep snow; n - hind leg of the desert Turkmen
foxes on wet sand (6.5X3.5); o - small Turkmen corsac on the sand (4.5X2.7);
etc- raccoon dog(4.4X3.6)
Bearish type of traces. Traces of this type are left by very large or medium-sized animals, plantigrade, with bare soles and long claws (rarely the soles of the feet are covered with hair). The area of the footprints of the hind paws is larger than the area of the footprints of the front ones. The trails are mostly covered. This type includes traces of all kinds of bears, badgers, honey badgers, porcupines, etc. (Fig. 5).
Rice. 5. Bearish tracks (cm)
a, b - prints of the front and rear right paws brown bear(15.0X15.0 - 27.0X14.0);
c - g - trail of a brown bear; h, i - fore and hind legs of the Himalayan bear;
j - slightly overlapped badger tracks on muddy ground; l - imprint of the front paw of a badger (6.0X6.0); m - imprint of the hind paw of a badger (8.0X4.3); k, o - prints of the front and rear paws of a porcupine (8.5X6.0 - 8.5X4.8)
Kuny type of traces. This type includes traces of representatives of the weasel family, which have an elongated body and short legs. The main gait is the gallop, which corresponds to the two-step pattern characteristic of mustelids, alternating with three- and four-step steps. The trail track is most often found in the winter on the snow, in the summer (on the ground) rarely (Fig. 6 - 10, 11, a).
Rice. 6. Kuniy type of traces (cm)
a, b - prints of the front and hind paws of the weasel (1.5X1.0-1.5X1.2);
c - prints of the front and rear right paws of an ermine (2.5 X 1.7-2.5X2.0);
d - prints. of the hind legs of an ermine on soft snow; e, f - trace paths of affection;
g, h - imprints of the right front and rear paws of the pine marten (4.3X3.6-4.3X3.7);
k, l - prints of the left front and rear paws stone marten(3.7X3.3-4.4X3.5);
and - prints of four paws of a pine marten on deep loose snow;
m, n, o - pine marten trail at different gaits
Rice. 7. Badger's footprint in spring still deep snow
Primorsky Krai (original)
Rice. 8. Mustelid footprints and mustelid paws (cm)
a, b - the front paw of the pine marten and its imprint on wet compacted snow (4.3X3.6);
c, d - the front paw of the stone marten and its imprint on wet compacted snow (3.7X3.3);
e - imprint of the front paw of the charza (4-7X5-8); f, g - traces of the harza, which overtook the musk deer by jumping on the snow, compacted by the wind; h - stone marten trail;
and - trace track of the kharza; k - chetyrehchetka and trehchetka sable; l - hind leg of a sable;
m - two-sable sable; n - sable track on deep loose snow - four paw prints merge into one large depression
Rice. 9. Weasel type of traces and paws of animals from the weasel family (cm)
a, b - front and rear right paws column; c - front left paw of the American mink;
d - paw prints of a large forest polecat on the mud (3.1X3.4-4.4X3.0); e - paw prints of the forest polecat; e-trace column (2.5X2.5-2.6X2.4); g - trail track column on muddy wet soil; h - trail track column in deep snow; and - paw print of a European mink (3.2X2.7); k - dvuhsetka mink on loose snow; l, m - imprint of the front and rear left paws of the forest polecat (3.2X2.8-3.0X2.4); n - trail track (four-meter) of a forest polecat in the snow
Rice. 10. The track of the Harz, who were taken away and hidden
pieces of meat of a young sika deer killed by them
Rice. 11. Kuny and otter types of traces
a - a trace track of a small dressing on jumps (2.4X2.0-2.7X2.0 cm);
b- otter paw prints on river ice powdered with snow;
c - otter trail on wet sand
wolverine type traces. The track of the wolverine consists of prints of the front and hind paws with big claws. Sometimes the first finger is not imprinted. The paw track is 15 cm long and 11.5 cm wide.
Rice. 12. Wolverine (a), raccoon (b), squirrel (d), horse (c), types of tracks
a - prints of the front (left) and hind paws of the wolverine (up to 15.0X11.5 cm);
b - prints of the front (left) (6.0x6.0 cm) and back (9.0X5.0 cm) paws of the raccoon raccoon;
c - trail of a kulan on the finely gravelly desert soil (11.0X8.5 cm);
d - traces of two hind and one front paws of a thin-toed ground squirrel
Otter type of traces. The back paws of the otter are five-fingered, the fingers are connected by a web. The metatarsal cushion is long, but is imprinted entirely only with slow walking. The prints of the front paws are most often four-toed. When walking, the trail has the form of a wavy line, while galloping it looks like a four-step track, consisting of the prints of four paws located along one line obliquely relative to the direction of movement of the animal. On loose, more or less deep snow, the otter's body leaves a furrow. The tail often draws a stripe on the snow and even on the ground. For the time being, only the traces of one animal, the otter, are attributed to this type of traces (see Fig. 11, b, c).
Raccoon type of footprints. Raccoon paws and their prints on the ground are distinguished by deeply separated fingers. These are the limbs of a plantigrade animal with well-developed claws. The tracks are similar to those of a muskrat, but larger. The front paws of the raccoon are five-fingered (in the muskrat, the print of the front paw is usually four-fingered, since the first finger does not reach the ground), the raccoon trail does not have a stripe from the tail, which is characteristic of the muskrat trail (see Fig. 12, b).
Cat type footprints. Such traces are left by predatory animals of the cat family, which specialized in the "rapid" form of running (dogs - in the "hardy"). When pursuing prey at a gallop, the traces of four legs approach each other. There are no claw marks, as they are known to be retractable (Fig. 13 - 16).
Rice. 13. Cat type of footprints
Paw prints (cm) and footprints: a, b- domestic cat on the silt of the solonchak (3.4X3.2);
c - d - Caucasian forest cat (4.5X3.7): c - posterior, d-anterior (3.9X4.6);
e - front leopard (12x12); e - leopard trail; g - left anterior European wild cat; e - a wild cat in the snow; and - reed cat, or hausa,
on mud (5.0X6.0); k - house track at slow speed; l - snow leopard track
on the step and on the jumps; m - lynxes on a snowdrift in spring (the hair on the sole is almost
completely shed - 7.0X6.0); and - snow leopard (7.8X7.5)
Rice. 14. Leopard tracks in deep snow
Rice. 15. Cat type of footprints
Paw prints (cm) and footprints: a - front and back paws of a tiger (16.0X14.0);
b - outlines of the digital and metacarpal crumbs of a male (left) and a female tiger of the same age
- 7 years (depicted on the same scale); c - diagram of the digital metacarpal and metatarsal
leopard crumbs; d-d - tiger track: d - on fine snow,
e - on a deeper snow cover (hind paws are placed in the prints of the front
- indoor track); e - track track when moving at a trot (the step and
drags); g - jumping attacking tiger
Rice. 16. Tiger tracks on the powdered ice of the river
The legs slipped and therefore the tiger spread its fingers, and sometimes released its claws
Horse footprints. This type of footprint is easily recognized by the print of one toe (hoof) on one foot. It includes footprints of a horse, donkey, kulan, and other representatives of the horse family (see Fig. 12, c).
Deer type of footprints. On the trail - hoof prints of the third and fourth fingers. On soft ground, as well as after a fast run, traces of the second and fifth fingers often remain. Deer-type tracks include tracks artiodactyl mammals(Fig. 17, b-k; 18, 20).
Rice. 17. Camel and deer types of tracks
Traces (cm) a, e - camel; b - red deer 8.7X6.0); c, g - European red deer(9.7X5.6);
d - 6 year old male red deer on the run (9.3X7.0); e - sika deer (7.2X5.2);
Trace tracks: h - red deer calf; and - female red deer;
k - red deer four-rosary
Rice. 18. Deer type of footprints
Hoof prints (cm) tracks: a - male fallow deer at a gallop (without stepchildren - 8.0X4.6);
b - female fallow deer (5.4X4.0); c - male roe deer (4.8X2.7); d - roe deer at a gallop on soft ground;
e, f, g - male (10-15X8-14) female and calf moose; n, o, n - their trace tracks;
h - trail of a male fallow deer; and - trail of a fallow deer at a gallop;
k - trail of the female fallow deer; l - footpath of a female roe deer;
m - four-roe deer at a gallop
Rice. 20. Ungulate tracks
Hoof prints (cm): a, h - reindeer(length with stepchildren 15);
b - musk deer fingers in the usual and extended position; and - musk deer hooves in the snow;
c - goats (6.6X4.3); g - sheep (6.0X3.7); e - the front leg of the chamois (7.2X4.3);
e - hind leg of chamois (7.0X3.5); g - goral (front hooves - 4.0X6.0, rear - 3.0X3.5);
m, n - chamois at a gallop; j - saiga females (6.0X X4.3); l - male saiga (6.6X X5.4);
o, t - goitered gazelle (5.4X3.1); p - wild boar (length with stepchildren - 12.5); R - wild pig(8 years);
c - young wild pig
Camel footprints. The footprint of a camel consists of a wide rounded sole, on cutting edge which two nails are located (see Fig. 19 a, e).
Hare type of traces. The trail is in the shape of the letter T: the prints of a pair of hind paws are located on a line perpendicular to the direction of movement of the animal, and the prints of the front paws are behind them along the axis of the trail. This type of tracks is typical for hares and pikas, for representatives of the gerbil subfamily from the hamster family (Fig. 51, a - e).
Rice. 21. Hare (a - e) and squirrel (g - n) types of tracks
Imprints (cm): a - a brown hare on the sand (back - 17.0X6.0, front - 6.0X3.8);
b - white hare in deep snow (rear-18.0X10.0: front (8.5X4.5);
c - tolai hare on road dust; G - Manchurian hare on the snow;
e, f - Daurian pika (3.0X1.3-2.1X1.7); g, h - midday gerbil (1.1X1.0-1.4X1.4);
and - proteins (2.7X2.6-5.6X X3.1); j, l - flying squirrels (1.7X X 1.3-2.0X1.4);
m - large gerbil (2.0X1.2-3.5X2.8); n - hind leg of the Amur long-tailed
ground squirrel (3.5X3.3) (Original: a, c - Karakum, b - Yaroslavl region; d - Primorsky Territory;
d - n - according to Formozov, 1952)
Squirrel type of traces. In rodents of the squirrel family and gerbils, the four-legged has a trapezoidal shape: the prints of the front paws, like the prints of the hind ones, are located along a line perpendicular to the direction of movement of the animal (Fig. 21, g - n; see Fig. 43, d).
Muskrat type of traces. Such traces are left by semi-aquatic animals. The toes of the hind paws are connected by an incomplete swimming membrane (muskrat) or trimmed with hard hairs (shrew) Footprints are long The track is wide, the steps are relatively short On soft ground, a trace of the tail may remain. The muskrat type includes traces of muskrat, nutria, shrew, desman (Fig. 22)
Rice. 22. Muskrat type of traces
a - muskrat trail (3.4X3.6-8.4X4.3 cm)
Imprints (cm): b - front paws of a muskrat, c - hind paws of a desman, d - front and hind legs of a beaver, e - rear right paw of a muskrat (5.6 X 1.8), f - front right paw of a muskrat
(2.6 X 10), w - nutria front paw, h - nutria hind paw
(a - according to Formozov, 1952, d, f, h - according to Kalbe, 1983, e, f - orig, Yaroslavl region)
Tips for becoming a hunter tracker
In Nature everywhere and everywhere scattered infinite set various traces - from very small, barely noticeable nibbles and passages of larvae in seeds, leaves, thin bark of branches, to grandiose destruction caused by earthquakes, mountain collapses, hurricanes, snow avalanches. Under footprints in the narrow hunting sense, they usually also mean birds, paths made by them through snow, loose earth, damp silt, in soft forest litter or on a carpet of mosses and lichens. Clear clear traces, by which one can determine not only the species, but also the age and sex of the animal, often make it possible to trace the entire path of the animal from one place of its rest to another, or, as hunters sometimes say - trot out, go out his diurnal transition. However, all this information will be open and useful to you only if you can read the tracks of animals and birds. And, in our publication today, which will be useful to young hunters, we will tell you, how to become a tracker who can read the book of Nature...
Why be able to read footprints
Skillfully using the traces and having traveled a fairly long route through fresh powder, you can easily determine where, how many and what kind of game animals and birds are found in the area you have surveyed, which lands are now inhabited by them more densely, which less often. In short, on fresh snow, along a white path, a lot that is not noticeable along the black trail in autumn becomes completely clear already at the beginning of winter. First of all, this applies to hidden nocturnal animals, which cannot be found during the day, it is almost impossible to pick them up from the bed and see (especially if you don’t have a specially trained one).
Such reconnaissance in the first days of the hunt ensures the correct alignment of forces, the expedient use of available time. But, and animals active during the day, for example, hazel grouse, pheasants, white and, leaving their nests in the snow, show us where they feed, take cover for the night. However, even when hunting along the black trope, the traces of this game cannot be neglected. In autumn, for example, during the days of hunting for hazel grouse with a beeper, it is useful to note the places where you come across fresh droppings on the roads and on the paths. The fact is that hazel grouse willingly runs out onto the roads to collect grains of sand and gravel, to pluck fresh grass. Where you find their droppings, you should definitely beckon, hiding behind the trees in advance. The hazel grouse is a sedentary bird, its autumn residential area is no more than 200-300 meters in diameter, which means that the beeper will be heard in almost all corners of its area. But, this technique is useful only where the hazel grouses are unevenly distributed, in spots, but where there are a lot of them, you can beckon everywhere.
How to learn to read footprints
The ability to recognize traces, to firmly know their specific differences - this is the alphabet of a tracker hunter. Those who do not own this technique will not be able to read the tracks, which means that they will not be able to cope with tracking and searching, in other words, they will completely lose the opportunity to hunt certain types of animals.
Traces of both large and small animals are excellently imprinted on the soft lamellar surface of the snow. Particularly accurate prints are formed during a thaw on freshly fallen snow, 3-5 centimeters thick. These are the so-called printing powders, they often fall out in the pre-winter period, and then in the spring, over a dense crust. From such traces, at least write a picture, at least take photographs. It is for them that it is worth starting to study the alphabet of traces. It is good, of course, to have an experienced instructor, but even without him, subject to your perseverance and patience, you can achieve good results.
It will be useful to get acquainted in advance with the traces of domestic animals - cows, pigs, goats, dogs, cats, goose, chickens, pigeons and others. The tracks of a wolf, for example, are quite similar, at first glance, to the tracks of a large shepherd dog, the tracks of a cow resemble those of a large boar, etc.
It is from comparisons and juxtapositions that many details of the footprints are revealed that otherwise would have gone unnoticed by you.
To determine the type of animal from footprints, it is also important to take into account the size and shape of the footprints of the hind and front legs - they can be the same or vice versa, they can differ greatly, like hares and squirrels, the number of fingers on them, the size and shape of callosities, the presence or the absence of claw marks, their length, the size and shape of the hooves, the ability of the fingers to move more or less when moving from dense to loose or marshy ground. And finally, perhaps most importantly, to celebrate mutual arrangement footprints and stride or jump length.
Animal footprints in the snow
When the snow is deep and loose, the outlines of the tracks become blurry and indistinct on it, not at all the same as with printing powder. A heavy animal wades and sinks heavily in the snow. The edges of the track pits crumble, furrows stretch between them, and the whole path of the animal or large bird is a deeply plowed groove with a string of obscure pits where feet have stepped. Determining such a trace, one has to use not the signs of footprints, but how the pits are located, whether they are deep, what is the length of steps, jumps, and the width of the path as a whole, as well as the whole sum of signs, which we call species handwriting of an animal.
On the move, the animal rests either on the entire foot - these are plantigrade animals, otters, etc., or only on the tips of the fingers - digitigrade - cats, foxes, corsacs, all ungulates, etc. In animals that often dig up prey, the claws of the front paws are significantly longer and straighter than on the hindquarters. In cats, grabbing prey with sharp, sharply curved claws, they are retractable and do not leave prints on the trail, as they are hidden under the soft part of the fingers.
Most animals during fast jumps throw strong hind legs ahead of the front ones, leaving a weaker track, and are repelled by sharp blows from the hind legs. So do wolves, foxes, roe deer and other animals at a gallop. And, for hares, squirrels, chipmunks, such jumps are a common type of gait, with it paw prints are given in fours, larger traces of the hind legs are wider, in front of and on the sides of the smaller front ones, which often lie in a line one after another. For the usual small trot of a wolf, fox, corsac jackal, the prints are arranged in one line - in a chain or rope. At the same time, the hind legs fall exactly into the traces of the front ones and are located strictly according to an imaginary middle line animal body. Of the dogs, only the good ones can keep this type of running for a long time, while most of the others leave traces in the form of a double line of prints or a broken, angular stripe, as they put their legs apart. A double row of prints of a wolf or a fox is left only where they walk slowly, wary, sneaking up on prey or trying to slip past people unnoticed. In foxes, in addition, the legs begin to tangle, and the chain of prints loses its clarity when a well-fed, tired animal goes to a secluded thicket in the morning to lie down. In convenient places in mild weather, a sleeping fox can be approached for a shot, taking such a trail, stretching from the fields where it moused, to thickets of weeds, thickets of undergrowth in swamps, steppe ravines ... Ob.
The arrangement of prints in close pairs or triplets is typical for sable, marten, polecat, mink, Siberian weasel, and ermine. The imprints of the right and left feet are located side by side, adjoining one another on the midline of the footprint. When jumping, the hind legs hit exactly the tracks of the forelegs or slightly go behind them. Jumps are usually longer, and for a polecat, ermine, and weasel, their length is constantly changing, and the entire path of the animal reflects many sharp turns in one direction or the other. Traces of such a move by a shuttle resemble the contour of a saw, while the shuttle of a mouse fox has a wavy curve with smooth turns and large deviations to the right and left from the main direction chosen by the animal, usually taking into account the direction of the wind.
Only in winter do you realize how many animals actually live in our forests. In the summer they hide in the bushes, watching us from the shelter. And in the winter they will inherit - so we spotted them.
How to distinguish a wolf track from a dog track?
In the photo on the left is a dog track, on the right is a wolf track:
The tracks of a wolf and a dog are very similar. But pay attention to the location of the extreme fingers - the index and little fingers. In a wolf, they are closer to the “heel” than in a dog. In a dog's track, the prints of the lateral fingers end almost in the middle of the prints of the middle ones, while in the wolf's the ends of the lateral fingers they barely reach the beginning of the middle ones.
They also write that “the wolf holds its paw in its fist”, therefore the track of the wolf is smaller and more prominent than the track of a dog of the same size, but it is difficult for a non-specialist to focus on this sign.
Fox
Foxes are related to dogs and wolves. The fox track, although similar to the dog track, is much smaller. The fox trail is stretched out in a neat chain - this is its main distinguishing feature. Like this:
A winter meeting with the fox itself is not uncommon.
From the life of hares
We also have rabbits. Gardeners have no doubt about it. It is known that a hare feeds not only her own, but also strangers' rabbits. True, such public feeding is observed mainly in white hares, while in hare hares it is rare. Contrary to popular belief, a hare does not abandon her children. It's just that rabbit milk is so nutritious that rabbits can only feed once a day or even less often.
The hare, as you know, does not know how to run, it only jumps, therefore it leaves a characteristic mark. The prints of the front, small, paws of the hare are located behind rear, large Like this:
Mouse
Mice do not hibernate in winter. they have to get out on the snow, for food. Here is the double chain of little footprints they leave behind:
Bear
Do bears live in the suburbs? On the border with the Tver region, friends met, though not in winter, but in summer. But I saw bear tracks in the snow. In the mountains Central Asia, in Uzbekistan.
And again, winter reigns outside the window, the long-awaited snow has fallen, which means it's time to talk about the ability to recognize animal tracks, determine their freshness and significance for hunting.
Traces of animals left by them in the snow, mud or grass are essential for hunting: they follow and lay down the animal, recognize their number, gender, age, and also whether the animal was injured and even the degree of its injury.
As a rule, wild animals lead a very secretive lifestyle. Thanks to a well-developed sense of smell, hearing and vision, animals and birds notice a person much earlier than he does them, and if they do not immediately run away or fly away, then they hide, and their behavior becomes atypical. To unravel the secrets of the life of animals, the observer is helped by the traces of vital activity left by them, by which they mean not only the prints of the limbs, but also all the changes made by the animal to environment.
In order to correctly interpret the detected trace, it is necessary to know who it belongs to, how long ago it was left by the animal, where the animal was heading, as well as the ways of its movement.
How to learn to recognize animal tracks? To determine the freshness of a trail, it is necessary to link together several factors: the biology of the animal, the state of the weather as in this moment, and a few hours before, as well as other information. For example, the trace of an elk found in the morning, not powdered with snow that fell the day before from the second half of the day until the evening, indicates that it is nocturnal.
The freshness of the trail can be determined by touch. In frost, in dry snow, a fresh track does not differ in looseness from the surface of the surrounding snow. After some time, the walls of the track harden, and the stronger, the lower the temperature, the track "hardens". Any other trace left big beast, becomes more rigid with time, and the more time passes since the formation of the trace, the more rigid it becomes. Traces of small animals left on the surface of deep snow do not harden. It is important to find out whether the beast has been here since the evening or passed an hour ago. If the track is old, more than a day old, then it is useless to look for the animal that left it, because it is already far away, out of reach. If the trace left is fresh, then the beast may be somewhere nearby. To determine the direction of movement of an animal, it is necessary to know the peculiarities of setting the limbs of different animals. Looking closely at a single track of a large animal left in loose deep snow, one can notice the difference between the walls of the track along the path of the animal.
On the one hand they are more gentle, on the other more abruptly. These differences arise because the animals lower their limbs (leg, paw) gently, and take them out of the snow almost vertically upwards. These differences are called: dragging - back wall and dragged out - the front wall of the track. The drag is always longer than the drag, which means that the animal moved in the direction in which the short, that is, steeper walls of the track are directed. When the animal takes out the leg, it presses on the anterior wall, compacting it, while the posterior wall is not deformed. Sometimes, in order to accurately determine the direction of the movement of the beast, it is necessary to rush it, observing the handwriting of the trail.
The gait of the animal, or the gait of its movement, is reduced to two types: slow or moderately fast movement (step, trot, amble) and fast running in successive jumps (gallop, quarry).
Animals with an elongated body and short limbs most often move at a moderate gallop. They are simultaneously repelled by the hind limbs and fall exactly into the imprints of the forelimbs. The legacy with such a gait is paired prints of only the hind limbs (most mustelids).
Sometimes, at a slow gallop, one or both hind paws does not reach the prints of the front paws, and then groups of tracks of three and four prints appear, called three- and four-foot prints. Less commonly, long-bodied and short-legged animals go to the quarry, and then in a jump they put their hind legs in front of their front ones, and therefore the prints of their hind legs are ahead of their front ones (hares, squirrels).
To determine the freshness of the trace, you need to divide the trace with a thin branch. If the trace is easily divided, then it is fresh, if it does not divide, it is old, more than a day old.
The footprint of an animal looks different not only in connection with the gaits of the animals, but also in connection with the state of the soil on which the animals move. The trace also changes depending on the hardness or softness of the soil. Ungulates, when moving calmly on solid ground, leave prints of two hooves. These same animals, when running and jumping on soft ground, leave prints of four hooves. Having five toes on their front paws, the otter and beaver leave a four-toed footprint on soft ground. Traces also change with the age of animals. In older animals, the tracks are larger and somewhat different in shape. For example, piglets rely on two fingers, and their parents on four. Adult dogs rely on four toes, and their puppies on five. The prints of the tracks of males and females are also different, but only experienced trackers can catch their differences. As the seasons change, so does the footprints of animals, as the paws of some of them become rough. long hair, which facilitates movement on loose snow (marten, lynx, white hare, fox, etc.).
Various forms(types) of footprints:
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Traces of animals in the snow, photo. Winter walks and fun with children: we play pathfinders or open a photo hunt for traces of animals and birds.
Animal footprints in the snow
In winter, when the ground is covered with snow, many footprints appear on it. It is especially interesting to consider the traces of animals. According to the traces found, specialists can determine a lot. For example, which animal they belong to, where it went and how it moved (slowly or quickly), how long ago it happened, etc.
What are the traces
Animal footprints are not only the prints of their paws. Here are the types of footprints of wild animals:
- traces of movement (paw prints just belong to this type of traces)
- traces of feeding activity
- traces of housing
- traces vital functions animals
- information traces
Winter walks with children: a game of pathfinders or photohunters
To make winter walks more fun, you can invite children to play trackers or photo hunters and hunt for animal tracks. There can be several nominations, for example, you can award (an honorary title, a small toy or a sweet) to someone who finds:
- the biggest footprint
- the smallest footprint
- longest trail
- the most unusual trail
- more than all the traces and be able to correctly identify them
Tracking the entire path of an animal along its trail is called trailing. Thus, you can learn a lot about the animal, its habits.
Animal footprints in the snow stock photos and royalty-free images
Before the walk, it is advisable to show the children in the drawings, and even better, in the photographs, what the traces of the animals that they may meet look like. They can be found online or in books. Books are very convenient because they can be taken with you on the street.
In our books we found such pages with drawings of animal tracks:
Both children and adults will be very interested to know other information about the tracks:
- Traces of what predatory beast similar to human bare feet person)?
- On the trail of which predatory animals are there no claws?
- What grass did the Indians call the white man's footprint?
- Bear footprints are most similar in shape to human footprints, except for the claw prints on bear footprints.
- There are no claws on the tracks of predatory animals from the cat family. This is due to the fact that when walking, they do not release their claws.
- Plantain. According to one version, Europeans accidentally brought the seeds of this plant to America on their shoes. According to another version, with the advent of settlers with vans in North America the first roads arose, on the sides of which this plant grew. The Indians did not have transport on wheels, so it was with the movement of white people that they associated the spread of plantain.
Animal tracks in the snow, our photos
Our photo collection of footprints with my daughter is small, although it has been collected for several years. But we take pictures of footprints in our yard, and most of Our winters are gray and snowless.
Basically, we have photographs of traces of birds and pets (cats, dogs) in the assortment :) Everything will not fit in the article, I will show some of them.
Dog footprint in the snow, photo
A dog's footprint differs from a cat's footprint in that it has claw marks.
Footprint of a cat in the snow, photo
If the trail of the animal is left in deep loose snow, and it is difficult to understand in which direction the animal was moving, you need to pay attention to the walls of the trail. The direction of movement of the animal coincides with the direction of the front of the track, so you need to determine where the track has which part. Since many animals often lower their paws obliquely, and raise them vertically upwards, the tracks on the one hand are deeper, with steep edges, and on the other hand, the edges are smoother. The front of the trail is called the drag, and the back is called the drag. The drag is longer than the drag. It is noticeable in the photo.
Cat and dog footprints in the snow
Several different tracks of cats and dogs on one small piece of land. In addition to the prints of the claws, those traces that came across to us also differ in size.
Traces of birds in the snow, photo
A trace of an ordinary neighbor's chicken (a coin for scale) and traces of the same chicken, only running away. 
Traces of small birds - the very ones that we fed from (photos taken at the same time).
Traces of a hare in the snow, photo
We asked to take a picture of the hare's footprints for our dad - there are hares, foxes and other wild animals not far from his work, but only hare footprints came across.
I suggest looking at other articles with the tag.
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