Animal tracks in the snow. Who walks in the woods in winter. Animal footprints in the snow - photo with titles Animal footprints with inscriptions

16.06.2019

Practical classification of footprints of animals and birds

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).

The usefulness of the practical classification of traces and the timeliness of its introduction are evident at least from the fact that some zoologists use the expressions "types of traces", "traces of different types" (Dulkeit, 1974), without giving them, however, the meaning of units of classification.

For tracks not listed here, the tracker can write a description himself, 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. 32, a - h).

Rice. 32. Hedgehog (a - h) and mole (i, k) types of tracks (cm)
a - footpath of an ordinary hedgehog; b - prints of the paws of an ordinary hedgehog (2.8X2.8); c - trace track of the eared hedgehog (2.0X1.8); d - f - prints of the front and hind paws of a 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; j - track of the Moger mole on dense snow (a, e, f, g, h, i, according to Formozov 1952; b - according to m.a. M. Vosatka; k - according to Marikovsky; c, d - orig)

Mole type of traces. The footprints of moles on the surface of the soil or on the snow cover are 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 tracks 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. 32, i, j).

Type of traces of shrews and mice. These are traces of small mammals. The larger hind feet of shrews, mice, and voles leave paired prints, behind which the smaller prints of the front paws 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. 33, 34).

Rice. 33. Type of footprints of small mammals
Trace tracks: a - c - shrews of the lesser shrew; b - on short jumps, c - on long ones; d, d - cutters for the first powder; f - a large specimen of the bank vole; g - half-adult wood mouse (according to Formozov, 1952)

Rice. 34. 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; d - a larger specimen of the gray vole (its trail is similar to a two-legged weasel); e, c - shrews of the common shrew on fine snow; g - piebald shrew-shrew - on the sand (according to Formozov, 1952)

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. 35).

Rice. 35. Dog type of footprints
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); n, p - raccoon dog (4.4X3.6) (a, c, m, p - original; b, d, f, g, i - from the "Appendix"; h, k, l, o - according to Formozov , 1952; p - according to Marikovsky, 1972)

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 badger, porcupine, etc. (Fig. 36).

Rice. 36. 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); j, o - prints of the front and hind paws of a porcupine (8.5X6.0 - 8.5X4.8) (a, b, c, l, m - original. Primorsky Territory; j - original, Yaroslavl region, d - from the "Appendix"; e - according to Marikovsky, 1972; f - according to Formozov, 1952; g - according to Rukovsky, 1984; h, i - according to Bromley, 1965)

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 path is most often found in the winter on the snow, in the summer (on the ground) rarely (Fig. 37 - 41, 42, a).

Rice. 37. Kuny 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 - trail path of the pine marten at different gaits (from the "Appendix")

Rice. 38. Badger's footprint in spring still deep snow
Primorsky Krai (original)

Rice. 39. 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 - prints of four paws merge into one large depression (l, m, n - orig., Primorsky Territory; a-d - according to Ryabov, 1976; e, f, f, i - according to Matyushkin , 1974; h - after Gambaryan, 1972; j - after Gusev, 1975)

Rice. 40. 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 - footpath (four-meter) of a forest polecat in the snow (a, b, c - orig., Primorsky Krai; d, i, k - according to Formozov; e, l, m, n - from the "Appendix"; f, g, h - according to Marikovsky, 1970)

Rice. 41. Trail of the Kharz, who took away and hid pieces of meat of a young spotted deer they had killed
Primorsky Krai (original)

Rice. 42. 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
(b-original; a, c - according to Formozov 1952)

wolverine type traces. The wolverine's trail consists of front and hind paw prints with large claws. Sometimes the first finger is not imprinted. The paw track is 15 cm long and 11.5 cm wide.

Rice. 43. 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
(according to Formozov 1952)

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 has a four-step pattern, consisting of four paw prints 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. 42, 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 strip from the tail, which is characteristic of the muskrat trail (see Fig. 43, b).

Cat type footprints. Such traces are left predatory beasts families of cats that specialized in the "swift" form of running (dogs - in the "endurance"). 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. 44 - 47).

Rice. 44. 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 front European wild cat; e - a wild cat in the snow; and - reed cat, or house, on silt (5.0X6.0); k - house track at slow speed; l - the track of the snow leopard 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); i - snow leopard (7.8X7.5) (a, b, c, d, i, m - according to Formozov, 1952; g, h - from the "Appendix"; k, l, n - according to Geptner, Sludsky, 1972; d - orig., Primorsky Krai)

Rice. 45. Leopard tracks in deep snow
Southwest of Primorsky Krai (original)

Rice. 46. 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 - scheme of digital metacarpal and metatarsal crumbs of a leopard; d-e - tiger track: d - on shallow snow, e - on deeper snow cover (hind paws are placed in the prints of the front ones - indoor track); e - track track when moving at a trot (step and drag are lengthened); g - jumps of an attacking tiger (a - orig., Primorsky Krai; c - according to Dulkeit, 1974)

Rice. 47. Tiger tracks on the powdered ice of the river
The legs slipped and therefore the tiger spread its fingers, and sometimes released its claws
(original, Primorsky Territory)

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. 43, 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. 48, b-k; 49, 50).

Rice. 48. 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 - four-beam of a red deer (a, b, e, e - orig.; a, e - Karakum; b, e - Primorsky Territory; c, d, f, h, i, j - from the "Appendix")

Rice. 49. 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 (a, b, c, d, h, i, k, l, m, n, i, n - from the "Appendix"; e, f, g - orig., Yaroslavl region)

Rice. 50. 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); p - wild pig (8 years); c - a young wild pig (a, h, k, l, o, t - according to Formozov, 1952; b - according to Zaitsev, 1983; c, d, e, f, m, n, p, s - from the "Appendix "; f - according to Bromley, 1965; i, p - orig., Primorsky Territory)

Camel footprints. The footprint of a camel consists of a wide rounded sole, on cutting edge which there are two nails (see Fig. 48, 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. 51. 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; d - Manchurian hare in the snow; e, f - Daurian pika (3 ,0X1.3-2.1X1.7); g, h - midday gerbil (1.1X1.0-1.4X1.4); i - squirrels (2.7X2.6-5.6X X3.1); k, l - flying squirrels (1.7X X 1.3-2.0X1.4); m - great 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. 51, g - n; see Fig. 43, d).

Jerboa type of traces. In jerboas, the run is "bipedal", or "two-legged". The track track may consist of paired tracks located along a line perpendicular to the direction of movement of the animal, or each leg alternately with the other leaves tracks on the right and left sides, respectively. The tracks of some jerboas are distinguished by the imprints of rows of bristles bordering the paws (Fig. 52).

Rice. 52. Jerboa type of traces
Imprints (cm): a, b - big jerboa (earth hare) (3.0XI.7);
c - fat-tailed jerboa (0.9X0.7); d, h, m - crested jerboa (3.5X2.1); e, j, n - upland jerboa (2.7X2.0); g, f - earthen hare (1.5X0.8); and - jerboa Severtsov; l - fat-tailed jerboa; o - Liechtenstein jerboa (a, b, c, e, f, f, m - according to Formozov, 1952; i, d, l, i, o - according to Fokin, 1978; h, k - orig., Karakum)

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. 53)

Rice. 53. Muskrat footprints
a - muskrat track (3.4X3.6-8.4X4.3 cm) Imprints (cm): b - muskrat front paws, c - desman hind legs, d - beaver front and hind legs, e - muskrat hind right paw (5.6 X 1.8), e - the front right paw of the muskrat (2.6 X 10), g - the front paw of the nutria, h - the back paw of the nutria
(a - according to Formozov, 1952, d, f, h - according to Kalbe, 1983, e, f - orig, Yaroslavl region)

BIRDS

Pelican type of footprints. Paw prints - four fingers connected by a swimming membrane - are turned towards the center line of the track. This type includes traces of birds of the copepod order (in our country - pelicans and cormorants, see Fig. 15, e)

Heron type of traces. On paw prints, three long, thin fingers are turned forward, and one (first), approximately the same thin and long, is turned back. from the shepherd's order (see Fig. 59, n)

Stork type of traces. Such traces are usually left by large birds with long legs The fingers are relatively thick, the second and fourth are widely spaced, the first is small, imprinted apart from the rest in the form of a round or oblong hole (Fig. 54)

Rice. 54. Stork type of footprints
Imprints (cm): a, b, c - common crane (12.0X15.0); g - belladonna crane at the watering place (8.5X10.5); e, f - white stork (13.5X19.8); g, h - black stork (14.0X14.0) (a, e, f - from the "Appendix"; b - according to the photograph of V. Zaitsev; c, d, g - according to Formozov 1952; h - according to Marikovsky 1970)

Duck type of tracks. The trail consists of paw prints, the three front toes of which are connected by a swimming membrane. This type includes traces of anseriform birds, gulls, loons, tube-nosed birds, guillemots, and some sandpipers (Fig. 55)

Kite type of traces. This type belongs to representatives of the order of diurnal birds of prey. The legs of some of them are adapted to capture and kill prey, the legs of others, namely scavengers (eat carrion), are adapted only for walking. The former have strong fingers and sharp curved claws, while the latter have blunt and slightly curved claws. On the paw prints, the traces of the extreme front toes, somewhat shorter than the middle ones, are located approximately at right angles to one another. The crumbs of the fingers leave deep imprints, the claws are separated from the ends of the fingers, often in the form of pricks in the ground. (Fig. 56, a, b, c, f)

Chicken type of footprints. The prints of the lateral front fingers are located one relative to the other at approximately a right angle. The trace of the rear toe is small and turned towards the axis of the trace track. In grouse birds, in winter, the outlines of the tracks are fuzzy due to the feathers covering the paws and “fringes” - horny scales that turn off the fingers. The step of grouse birds is short. In chicken birds of open spaces, fingerprints are thinner, longer than those of grouse, steps are also longer. (Fig. 57, see 61, b, c)

Rice. 57. Chicken type of footprints
Imprints (cm): a, e, f - capercaillie (11.0X11.7); b, c - black grouse (6.0X7.5);
g, l - pheasant (8.5X7.8); g, h - hazel grouse (5.4X4.5); i, j - gray partridge (5.0X5.0);
m, k - white partridge (6.0X5.5); o, p - quail (3.5X3.2) (a, b, c, e, f, f, i, k, m, n, o, p - from the "Appendix"; d, h, l - orig. , Primorsky Krai)

Bustard type of tracks. In bustard birds - inhabitants of dry plains - the traces are distinguished by the prints of short and thick fingers, long steps. In addition to the traces of bustard birds, the traces of birds of the grouse order should also be attributed to the bustard type, although their legs are not long (Fig. 58, a - i)

Rice. 58. Paw prints and footprints of birds with bustard type tracks
Imprints (cm): a - bustards (7.3X7.5); b - bustards on a dusty road; c - beauty bustards (5.7X4.8); g - little bustard (4.3X4.7); d - saji, or hooves (2.2X1.5); e - black-bellied grouse; g, h - avdotka (4.3X2.8); and - white-bellied sandgrouse (3.1X2.9); j - coots (coot type of traces) (10.0X10.5); l - pigeon (pigeon type of traces) (a - from the "Appendix"; b, c, d, e, f, g, i, k - according to Formozov, 1952; l - according to Marikovsky, 1970; h - orig., Astrakhan reserve)

Kulich type of traces. Many waders are good runners. Their footprints are distinguished by the wide-spaced extreme fore toes, the back toe is imprinted weakly or not at all, since it is small and located higher than the others. Some waders have no hind toe at all (Fig. 59, a - m).

Rice. 59. Kulichin and heron types of tracks
Imprints (cm): a - lapwing (3.5X4.2); b - snipe; in - a large curlew (7.0X8.0); g - a large snail (4.0X5.0); d - woodcock (4.4X5.4); e - wader-carrier (3.0X3.0); g, h - black oystercatcher (4.0X5.0); and - sparrow sandpiper (1.7X2.7); j, l - brown-winged plover (4.0X4.0); m - oystercatcher magpie (4.0X5.0); n - gray heron (17.5X 12.5) (a - f, i, m - according to Formozov, 1952; k, l, k - orig, Primorsky Territory; h - according to Marikovsky, 1970)

Pigeon footprints. All four fingers of the pigeon are well imprinted, the fingers are rather long, thin, the trail is narrow, the paw print as a whole is slightly turned towards the axis of the trail (see Fig. 58, k).

Coot type of traces. The fingers are trimmed with a leathery scalloped swimming membrane (see Fig. 58, j).

Owl type of tracks. Traces of owls are occasionally found in the snow when they hunt rodents, less often on the ground. The print of the outer front finger is rotated to the print of the back finger. The crumbs give deep marks, the claws are imprinted in isolation from the ends of the fingers (see Fig. 56, e - i).

Woodpecker type of footprints. The following feature is visible on the paw prints of woodpeckers: two fingers are turned forward and two back. Claws leave dot marks.

Raven type of traces. The passerine order, which includes the corvidae family, is numerous in terms of species and diverse in terms of the ecology of its representatives. Basically, the paws of these birds are adapted to grabbing branches: the three front fingers are close together, and the back one is well developed and opposes the rest. The claws are strongly developed. The trail track corresponds to the movement of a pair of rebounds (jumps), as well as walking and running. In some terrestrial passerines, the claw of the hind toe is long and leaves a long mark (Fig. 60, 61, a).

Rice. 60. Crow type of footprints
Imprints (cm): a - crow (11.0X4.0); b - jays (5.8X1.7); c - fieldfare thrush (5.0X2.5); g - white wagtail; d - crows (8.8X4.2); e - magpies - in the snow; g - saxaul jay - on the sand of the desert (4.6X1.8); h - magpies (6.0X2.8); and snow bunting (3.5X1.8); to - white wagtail; l - dancer's heaters; m - house sparrow (3.5 X 1.6)

Rice. 61. Crow (a) and chicken (b, c) types of traces
a - the trail of a desert raven on the sand of a dune; b - trace of the left paw of a peacock; c - trace of the right paw of a female Himalayan Snowcock (8.8X8.2 cm)
(a, b - original, a - Karakum, b - India, c - according to Formozov 1952)

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 if the footprints of animals are divided into groups according to their common features, the most noticeable, conspicuous.

For tracks not listed here, the tracker can write a description himself, make drawings, and determine by observation which animal they belong to.

Rice. 1. Hedgehog (a - h) and mole (i, k) types of tracks (cm)

a - footpath of an ordinary hedgehog; b - prints of the paws of an ordinary hedgehog (2.8X2.8);
c - trace track of the 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 - gray hamster trail; and - footpath of the European
mole on loose snow; k - trail of the mole moger on dense snow

Mole type of traces. The footprints of moles on the surface of the soil or on the snow cover are 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 tracks 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 at a close distance 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 the smallest mammals. The larger hind feet of shrews, mice, and voles leave paired prints, behind which the smaller prints of the front paws 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 the 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);
e, c - shrews of the common shrew on fine 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.

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);
n, p - 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 back right paws of a 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);
j, l - prints of the left front and rear paws of the 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 of traces. The wolverine's trail consists of front and hind paw prints with large 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 has a four-step pattern, consisting of four paw prints 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 mud of the salt marsh (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 front 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. The deer type of traces include traces of 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); p - wild pig (8 years);
c - young wild pig

Camel footprints. The footprint of a camel consists of a wide rounded sole, on the front edge of which there are two nails (see Fig. 19 a, f).

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 in 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 desman, 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)

PART 1
TRACKS ON THE SNOW TRAIL

TRACES OF ELK, DEER, ROE DEER, MUCK DEER AND BOAR
(moose, reindeer, Caucasian deer, maral and red deer, spotted deer, roe deer, musk deer, wild boar, turs and chamois)

Elk

About 60 years ago, this large ungulate was close to complete destruction, but careful protection has yielded remarkable results - now the elk has become one of the common and numerous animals of the country's forest belt. Even in such a densely populated industrial area as Moscow, there are several thousand elks. From big forest areas moose began to settle to the south and now often appear in the fields and in the copses of the Ryazan, Oryol, Saratov, Orenburg and other regions; from Western Siberia they make their way to the forest-steppe and steppe of Kazakhstan. In a number of regions, moose have become so numerous that in some places they destroy young pine trees in plantations and interfere with the regeneration of forests in burnt areas and clearings.

In many areas, rationed elk hunting is now allowed (on special orders - licenses); in the reserves, work is underway to domesticate this valuable animal and study its biology.

It is enough to drive 40-50 km from Moscow to get to the lands where there are already many traces of moose. Moose themselves often run into summer cottages and even to the outskirts of Moscow.

Rice. 74. Imprint of the right pair of legs of a female elk (strong mind)
The back foot completely covered the footprint of the front foot. Kostroma region

The sharp hooves of a heavy tall elk leave noticeable traces not only in winter, but also along the black trope. They are considerably larger than the footprints of a domestic cow; the elk's stride is much longer. Like all ungulates, male moose are larger than females, their hoof prints are less sharp, more rounded than the oblong traces of moose. On the places of winter grazing and rest, the elk leaves large heaps of droppings - dozens of brownish-brown large hard "nuts". These heaps are preserved for a long time, and often in the summer months it is possible to establish the places of winter camps or elk roaming from them. If the hoof prints in deep snow are not clear enough, the sex of the animal is determined by the shape of the nuts: in the male they are almost round, in the female they are elongated, resembling an acorn.

Rice. 75. Track of a bull elk (above) and a cow elk (below)
1 - at a slow pace, 2 - at a trot, 3 - at a gallop

Moose do not form large herds and usually keep in groups of 3-5, less often 8-10 heads. AT summer time they feed on succulent herbaceous plants (willow-herb, meadowsweet, horsetail, bear's pipe and some other umbrella plants) and pluck leaves from young trees and shrubs; in winter they feed mainly on branches and, to a lesser extent, on the bark of hardwoods (aspens, willows, elms, etc.).

O.I. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky published a very interesting article about the biology of moose in the Kola Peninsula. Almost all of his observations were collected by the method of tracking with a careful study of many diurnal transitions of elks. We use some of the conclusions of this work that are relevant to tracking.

When grazing in autumn, the elk makes quite large transitions (on average, 5-6 km per day). In winter, with deep snow, and especially with the appearance of crust, the mobility of the elk is reduced. On the Kola Peninsula in March with a snow depth of 65-70 cm daily course moose only 0.7-0.9 km. Most of the day the elk lies on the snow, chewing its cud; the number of beds is from 4 to 10 per day (less in autumn, more in spring); calves lie down to rest more often than adults.

Settling down for a rest, the elk does not hoof the snow at all, but simply crushes it with the weight of its body, while the roe deer and deer clear the hay to the ground or forest floor, often choosing places under coniferous trees where the snow cover is especially thin.

In winter, an adult elk eats about 7-9 kg of branch food per day, preferring shoots of willow, mountain ash, aspen, but does not avoid conifers. So, he willingly eats, along with needles, thin branches and tops of pine, fir, juniper. The elk scrapes off the bark from large trees with the incisors of the lower jaw, leaving rather wide grooves on the trunk - traces of chisel-shaped teeth. He uses this food from autumn to spring, but in relatively warm weather. (The bark, strongly hardened in the cold, does not lend itself well to his teeth.)

Rice. 76. Litter of an elk: on the left - male, on the right - females (e.v.)

In early spring, when sap flow begins at the trees and the bark easily lags behind, the elk peels it off in whole shreds, and gnaws the bark below and, grabbing it, pulls it up. Bark gnaws made by this tall animal are usually located at a height of 1 to 2.5-3 m above ground level. Traces of small damages on the trunks of aspens, mountain ash, willows, elms and other trees gradually disappear, but remain for many years. Damaged areas on the trunks of fir trees are covered with resin and seem to heal, but even large trees break in the wind precisely in these gnawed places. Some trees with ring-shaped bark dry out. Moose willingly feed on the bark of fallen trees.

Sometimes in autumn, moose make their way to thorny paths to cutting areas, where there are a lot of felled aspens. The summer paths of moose are also clearly visible, connecting overgrown burnt areas and glades - their grazing places in the forest - with watering places: streams, rivers and lakes.

Rice. 77. Flowering top of willow-tea eaten by elk (d.)

Often in spring and summer, moose graze along the shores of lakes and swamps, eating young greenery and willow flowers, marigold, sedge, watch, etc. Not content with this food, they go into the water and take out the fleshy rhizomes of egg capsules, urut and others from the bottom aquatic plants. On spring pastures, next to the large sharp hoof marks of the female, it is sometimes possible to notice small traces of one or two recently born calves.

When feeding with branches in winter, an elk breaks trees with fragile wood or heavily frozen trunks of buckthorn, aspen, pine, fir, etc. It bends down small trees, capturing them with its mouth, larger oppression and knocks down, advancing with its chest and passing them between the front legs. It is not difficult for an elk to bend and hold a tree with the weight of its huge body, but sharp branches scratch its chest - the elk often walks in sores and abrasions in winter. During the winter sedentary life, even a small herd of moose destroys many shoots and branches, breaks and damages hundreds of young trees. Even after several years, it is still easy to recognize the winter elk camp in the forest - there are so many broken, gnawed and emaciated trees without tops. If there are no traces on the snow, then by the freshness of the breaks in the trunks and wood on the gnawed trees, one can approximately judge the time when the moose passed or “stood”. Thin branches of elk and deer are broken and torn off, since the front teeth - incisors - they have only on the lower jaw. The kink of the end of the branch used by them differs from that “cut off” by the sharp teeth of hares.

Rice. 78. Young pine, broken and partly eaten by elk
Kharovsky district of Vologda region, November

In areas where maximum height snow during the winter rarely exceeds 45-50 cm, moose live almost settled, changing seasonally only places of grazing and rest. Where the height snow cover reaches an average of 65-70 cm or more, moose roam twice a year - in autumn and spring, spending the winter in conditions of a little snowy forest zone, sometimes 200-300 km from their summer quarters. So, on the right bank of the Irtysh, in the basin of the Demyanka River, they roam from north to south, and, according to the observations of L. G. Kaplanov, in autumn they cover about 10-15 km per day, sometimes up to 30 km. Significant elk migrations also take place on the western slope of the Middle Urals. In the area of the Pechoro-Ilychsky Reserve, moose migrate in two directions: from north to south and from west to east. The first group spends the winter in pine forests subzones of the middle and southern taiga, where abundant pine-birch undergrowth provides them with food throughout the winter; the second - winter in the spruce-fir foothill forests, where they feed on the branches of fir and mountain ash, despite the deep, almost two meters of snow by the end of winter.

Rice. 79. Rowan shoots torn off by an elk (left) and oak shoots cut by a white hare (d.)
Mordovian ASSR

Autumn migration usually begins when the first powder falls, even before freezing, spring - when snow settles and the crust melts, which greatly impedes the movement of all ungulates. In places of winter camps, moose shed their antlers: old males in December - January, young bulls - at the end of February, in March. An elk horn that has lain in the forest for a long time is usually badly gnawed by small animals. Deficiency of some salts in vegetable feed boreal forest makes horn an attractive mineral food for hares, squirrels, voles and lemmings. According to the width of the grooves made by the incisors of rodents, one can approximately judge the types of animals that use this food.

New antlers grow during the summer; as soon as they harden, the bulls begin to peel off their "shirt" - the skin that covered the horns during the growth period. On the Kola Peninsula, according to Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, moose "clean their antlers" from late August to mid-September. During this period, "the elk most often scrapes and breaks with its horns young pines (up to 10 cm in diameter), fir trees, birches and junipers." However, most of the trees and bushes twisted or broken by horns are damaged not during the cleaning of the horns from the shirt, but later, during the roar (i.e., the mating season). The elk continues to peel branches and bark from young trees with its antlers even in winter until the antlers fall off. The elk rut period falls on September - early October; at this time, each male keeps with one female, and often her calves remain near her. Sometimes the bull drives them away, but they rejoin their mother at the end of the rut and spend the winter together. A pair of moose spends the rutting period in one relatively small area. It is easily recognizable by the presence of bushes broken by horns and by holes in the ground (up to 80 cm in diameter and 25-30 cm deep), knocked out by the bull's front hooves at the place where the female urinated. The roaring elk after the female leaves its "footprints" in this pothole, which for quite a long time retain a sharp smell, reminiscent of the smell of a beaver stream. Such kopankas also appear after snow falls; according to them, one can judge not only the places, but also the timing of the elk rut.

Thus, throughout the year, the elk leaves heterogeneous and clearly visible traces, by which, step by step, you can learn about all the changes in his seasonal life, about his short and long movements and changing environmental requirements.

Reindeer

Much rarer than elk, and on a smaller area of the European part of the USSR, wild reindeer are found. But just 100 years ago, in the former Kostroma and Nizhny Novgorod provinces, herds of grazing savage deer blew up the snow so much that it was impossible to ski after them. Now they only occasionally run into the Kirov region, more often meeting on the Kola Peninsula, in the north of the Urals, in the tundra, taiga and mountains of Siberia.

If the tracker is lucky enough to come across traces of reindeer in the forest, he will immediately distinguish them by such features: in winter, the elk prefers to stay in the thickets of low forests, the reindeer more readily goes to open swamps, mountain tundra and wastelands; the elk eats branches, the deer hoofs the snow, makes large digs, feeding on reindeer moss, or wanders in the conifer, breaking off shreds of bearded lichen hanging on the trunks and branches of fallen trees; moose always keeps large groups, the reindeer grazes and roams in herds of several tens or even hundreds of heads.

Hoofprints and droppings of a domesticated reindeer are completely similar to those of a savage deer. Only after following a long distance, studying the features of the "handwriting", it is possible to distinguish traces of a more cautious and mobile wild deer from traces of domestic herds, and even then without much confidence in the accuracy of the definition.

Rice. 80. Reindeer footprints (d.)
Kola Peninsula, June

But from the traces of other animals close in size, the traces of the reindeer are easily distinguished. Its large (medium) hoof prints are kidney-shaped and strongly rounded; on swampy soil or soft snow, they are widely spaced. The lateral fingers are widely spaced and sit so low that they constantly touch the ground, leaving imprints of sharp hooves. The length of the step at a slow pace is 50-70 cm.

Caucasian deer, maral and wapiti

In the mountain forests of a significant part of the Caucasus and in the impassable reeds of Dagestan, the most beautiful of the ungulates, the Caucasian red deer, is found.

Another form of deer has been preserved in small numbers in the forests of the eastern part of the Crimea. There are also protected European deer in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Voronezh, Khopersky and other reserves. Deer that inhabit the mountains Central Asia and the southern part of Siberia - maral and red deer - these are also only subspecies (geographical races) of one widespread species.

Rice. 81. On the left - winter reindeer droppings (Dikson Island),
on the right - wapiti (Ussuri taiga) (e.v.)

Cautious, shy Caucasian deer keeps in summer in deserted places on the border of forest and alpine meadows, in winter it descends much lower. In places covered with fine snow, deer gather acorns, beech nuts, and nibble grass. If the snow is deep, they eat young shoots, lichens, buds, gnaw bark, pluck green, unfallen blackberry leaves. Young deer and lankas (females) form common herds and go to the lower mountain belts for the winter; old males roam alone and remain in dark coniferous forests, where the snow depth reaches 80-100 cm or more.

By the end of winter or at the beginning of spring, deer shed their antlers. Like moose, old people are freed from antlers earlier than young ones. The deer sheds its antlers in approximately the same place. First, one horn breaks off, then after a while the other. It is noticed that the large, heavy horns of large males lie closer to each other on the trail than small ones. This is explained as follows: the remaining heavy horn strongly tilts its head to one side, disturbs the beast, and the deer hurries to get rid of it.

Rice. 82. Footprint of a female Caucasian deer (e.v.)
Caucasian Reserve, September

The traces of the Asian representatives of this group are similar to the traces of the Caucasian deer: the almost exterminated Tugai deer, or hangul, found here and there along the tugai in the river valleys of Central Asia; deer, inhabiting mainly mountain taiga Southern Siberia (found from Tien Shan to Baikal inclusive); as well as red deer living in the forests of Transbaikalia and the southern half of the Far East Territory. The hoof prints of these animals are similar to those of their common neighbor, the wild boar. But in the wild boar, the longer lateral fingers leave prints more often, and the two middle fingers move apart more widely than in the deer. According to the traces of the body on the grass, bushes and trees (the wild boar is much lower than the deer), it is often possible to verify the definition made by hoof prints by the litter.

Rice. 83. Traces of a deer on the go: on the left - females, on the right - male
The latter has a gap between the right and left prints
(see dotted line) much wider than female

Deer droppings, like that of an elk, are characteristic "nuts", usually lying in a large pile. They are smaller than moose, but larger than those of roe deer. The tracks of the bull deer, especially the prints of the hind legs, are larger, blunter and more rounded than those of the female, and the prints of the hooves are more tightly compressed. In addition, the traces of the right and left pairs of extremities of the bull are moved much further away from the median longitudinal line of the trace.

Rice. 84. Litter of female Caucasian deer
above - winter, below - spring, when switching to eating juicy green food. Caucasian Reserve

Deer bites on the bark of elms, aspens, willows have a different character, depending on what time of the year the deer fed. Winter injuries have the appearance of furrows left as if by a semicircular chisel, narrower than those of an elk; at this time, the bark is firmly connected with the wood and the deer scrapes it off with their incisors. During the movement of juices, the bark is easily peeled off from the tree in whole ribbons and patches. The deer feeds on it, leaving almost no traces of teeth - these are summer and spring injuries.

There are springs and springs, the water of which contains a slightly increased percentage of salts. The soil near such mineral springs is saturated with salts. In spring and summer, all ungulates willingly visit these salt licks. Reindeer gnaw on brackish soil, dig deep holes in it, drink water, lick stones lying in the water, and sometimes even gnaw on collapsing pieces of rocks. Thorny paths and many traces of animals of different ages and sex lead to salt licks.

Autumn comes mating season and deer with a trumpet roar walk through the forest, the length of the tracks noticeably increases. At the same time, traces of meetings and fights of males can be seen. Where the bulls fought, the moss was uprooted and scattered in all directions, the earth was blown up and bare. Occasionally, pieces of broken antler sprouts and traces of blood on the trampled earth are found at the site of the fight. Sometimes the males are so intertwined with their horns that they cannot disperse, and the fight ends with the death of both rivals from hunger.

When snow falls, Caucasian and Siberian deer migrate to winter camps. In some areas, these are short transitions from one slope of the ridge to another or from one type of forest to the next. But sometimes deer have to walk many tens of kilometers. Then they move in small groups along the same long-term paths. Where there are many deer, for example, in the Primorsky Territory, their paths are very numerous and represent one of the typical features of a wild, sparsely inhabited area. L. G. Kaplanov wrote:

"They exist for many years, are constantly being renewed and run through the valleys along the rivers and springs, along the ridges and through the mountain folds, serving as routes of movement for all kinds of animals in the summer." Such deer trails often have to be used during travel and research work in the taiga. "If it were not for the numerous animal trails that cross the Sikhote-Alin taiga in all directions, we would not be able to complete even half of our journeys," wrote the well-known explorer of this region V. K. Arseniev.

Feeding mainly on tree branches in winter, deer leave even more noticeable traces of their stay at the place of mass winter grazing than do elk. This is due to the fact that the deer is a herd animal; females and young are kept in large groups. Noticeable damage to forest plantations was noted in the Crimean and Voronezh reserves; traces of the long-term impact of red deer grazing on the vegetation of the Sikhote-Alin are described by L. G. Kaplanov. Here, the influence of numerous deer primarily affects their favorite, main forage species - velvet tree, aralia - and to a lesser extent on others.

In the Far Eastern taiga, the influence of red deer on the life of the forest is not significant. economic importance, especially since the deer provides valuable antlers, meat, skins and to some extent pays for the damage caused to forest plantations.

In the forestry enterprises of the European part of the USSR, where much attention is paid to reforestation in clear-cut areas, forest nurseries are created, and valuable species are being acclimatized, it is necessary to protect young forest areas from elk and deer and not to allow too great an increase in the number of these animals.

Dappled deer

This small, very beautiful deer has survived with us in small groups only in the forests of Primorsky Krai, to the north to Bolshaya Ussurka. But over the past 30-40 years, sika deer have been settled in a number of reserves in the European part of the USSR and in some regions of Siberia. His antlers - young horns - are used as remedy and are valued higher than deer and red deer antlers.

Spotted deer tracks are middle in size between those of roe deer and wapiti.

Rice. 85. Hoof print and sika deer droppings
Left - winter, right - spring during the transition
for succulent green fodder (e.v.). Primorye, June

The spotted deer usually grazes on forest lawns and glades, where it eats herbaceous plants, sometimes even such inedible for livestock as hellebore and lily of the valley. It willingly feeds on acorns and other forest fruits, plucks buds and soft leaves of trees. Taking out the branches while standing on its hind legs, it easily rises and stretches to its full length.

An inexperienced tracker might think that some very tall animal fed here. As a rule, spotted deer live sedentary, adhering to one small area. In summer, these are dense thickets of sivers - the northern slopes of the hills, in winter, little snowy sunbaths - slopes facing south and overgrown with black forest.

Roe

A wild goat, a roe deer, leads a lifestyle similar to deer, which is called "guran" in Transbaikalia, and "ilik" in Kazakhstan. Its traces - a miniature copy of deer - are most often found in light, sparse forests, in glades, in overgrown burnt areas, in tugai and mountain shrubs. Of our small deer, the roe deer is the most widespread and in some places very numerous species. It is found in the western strip of the European part of the USSR (from Ukraine, Belarus and Leningrad region east to Moscow, Yaroslavl and Voronezh region), in the Crimea, in the Caucasus, in the Middle and Southern Urals, in the forest-steppe of Kazakhstan and mountain forests of a number of ridges of Central Asia, in the southern strip of the taiga of Siberia. Roe deer of Siberia, and especially the Urals, are much larger than those living in the European part of the USSR and in Central Asia, which is reflected in the size of the tracks, the length of the jumps, etc.

Rice. 86. Traces of the right pair of legs of a male roe deer during slow movement (e.v.)
Primorye, June

The roe deer inhabits extensive continuous forests and small forest clefts, through which it penetrates far into the steppe region. In summer, its traces are found even in the reed beds of large lakes in Northern Kazakhstan, and in the southern part of this republic, roe deer in in large numbers found in tugai and reed beds of the lower reaches of the Ili River, surrounded by the sands of a vast desert.

The most densely populated by roe deer is the southern strip of Siberia from the coast of the Sea of Japan to Altai in the west, Middle, Southern Urals and mountains of Central Asia. In summer, roe deer lie down to rest in dense thickets of young deciduous and coniferous species, in shrubs and dense forb cover of glades, in Ivan-tea and large ferns.

With regard to food, the roe deer is unpretentious and eats many herbaceous plants, leaves of trees and shrubs, and their fruits. Unlike elk and deer, branch food even in winter plays a relatively small role in its nutrition; it more readily nibbles dry grass on blowouts and sun-baked areas (areas devoid of snow), eats hay from haystacks, hoofs fallen aspen leaves from under the snow, etc. Roe deer go to salt licks for most of the year.

Rice. 87. Footprint of an adult male Siberian roe deer during fast jumps
On the run, the hooves are strong - they move apart and, except for the two middle fingers
short lateral (e.v.) rest on the ground.
Kustanai region, Kazakhstan, July

In the places of their summering and wintering, the uterus with young and single males stay more or less sedentary, occupying a limited area for a long time, which has a watering place, pasture and dense thickets of haul-out. Daily transitions under certain conditions are quite large.

For example, here is a description of the transition of a family of roe deer along the first powder in the Middle Urals. Having risen from the beds, on the top of a small hill with dense pine young growth, they made a big circle, returned there and lay down not far from their former place of rest. These animals traveled about 14 km and moved away from their haul, counting in a straight line, by 4.5 km. “Roe deer walked one after another,” wrote S. L. Ushkov, “sometimes they dispersed, walked around individual trees, bushes, converged again. On the go, without stopping, they bit the tops of birches, aspens and pines. on two occasions they crossed a clean clearing in an open place ... "

The rut of roe deer is in August - September. During this period, males become more mobile, run a lot in search of females and often fight with rivals. Their fresh footprints appear on the paths where long time did not meet at all.

In the northern part of the roe deer distribution area and in the mountains with snowy winters, in late autumn and partly in winter, these animals migrate until spring from their summering grounds to areas more favorable for wintering - little snow, better protected from cold winds, etc. In some areas, with these On seasonal roe deer migrations, having huddled in herds of 10-20 heads, they leave for tens of kilometers. With constant seasonal migrations, they usually follow their own special paths and paths that have existed for many decades. In the old days, during large migrations and especially at river crossings (for example, on the Amur, Ussuri), thousands of roe deer became the prey of hunters. Sometimes large winter movements of roe deer are caused by heavy snowfalls. The permanent wintering grounds of these ungulates, covered with deep snow, become unsuitable for them, and the animals migrate. At the same time, even herds are evicted to new places, in ordinary years living settled. Winter is the most difficult period in the life of many ungulates. At this time, the roe deer everywhere chooses the least snowy forest plantations or sunburns. Even in the Caucasus and Crimea, roe deer are more likely to stay in the winter on "warmths".

For rest, these animals dig a lair in the snow to the ground. They always lie down with their chest and stomach down, with their legs tucked in. Therefore, their beds do not have the correct shape and are so small that they do not seem to correspond to the growth of the animal. The pursued roe deer very skillfully confuse their trail: they describe circles, returning several times to their original path, make loops and jump to the side. The horns are shed in old goats in November, and in young goats in December.

Rice. 88. Left - winter droppings of Siberian roe deer, right - musk deer
(a little mind). Primorye

musk deer

The footprint of the musk deer, which lives in our mountainous regions of Southern and Eastern Siberia, is smaller than that of other small ungulates, and looks not so much like the footprint of deer related to it, but like the footprint of mountain antelopes. The hooves of the musk deer are elongated and sharp, the footprint is clear. Since its lateral hooves - spurs - are sharp and long, they also give distinct prints on snow and soft ground.

Her fingers are able to move apart greatly, due to which the supporting surface of the legs increases. This makes it easier for the musk deer to move on loose forest snow.

Rice. 89. On the left - hoof prints of a female musk deer when moving slowly, on the right - when jumping uphill (e. v.). Altai Reserve
(based on a sketch by F.D. Shaposhnikov)

On fast jumps, the musk deer throws strong hind legs far behind the front ones; at the same time, the location of the group of prints resembles the tracks of a hare. Small dark "nuts", musk deer droppings, lying in heaps among rocks and stones, resemble spilled black sunflower seeds.

Rice. 90. Traces of musk deer on jumps

Musk deer is a settled animal; it stays in the rocky areas of the taiga throughout the year; in winter, with deep snow, it paves thorny paths along the eaves of rocks and cliffs. Its main winter food is tree lichens, coniferous fir legs, etc. Its way of life is little studied and deserves close attention of trackers.

Boar

Wild pigs get along better than other ungulates in the neighborhood with a person. Despite the long-standing persecution, in the forests of Belarus, in the Caucasus, in Central Asia, in the south of Kazakhstan and Siberia - wherever there are suitable conditions, there are still a lot of these animals. Their thorny paths crossed all the boundless thickets of reeds of the Caspian coast, the deltas of the Kuban and Volga rivers, the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, Syr Darya and a number of other regions. There are many wild boars in mountain forests, especially in Primorsky Krai. Among the impenetrable thickets and thickets one can see their countless traces and sometimes.

Rice. 91. Footprints of a female wild pig (d.)
Caspian coast, Dagestan, June

Old pigs, accompanied either by small piglets or by one or two year old gilts, join other families. Having formed herds of several dozen heads, they wander through the forests, looking for places richest in acorns, chestnuts, hazelnuts, beech or pine nuts. In summer they dig up bulbs, roots, earthworms, small rodents and plow their snouts into mountain meadows, forest clearings, etc. In winter, depending on the weather and the depth of snow, herds of pigs either descend into the lowlands or rise again into the mountains. In coastal areas they most years they dig sweet rhizomes and tender reed shoots, mealy rhizomes of cattail, and on small places reservoirs collect water chestnuts and shells. With luck, wild boars even catch fish, looking for drying up, very shallow lakes and channels, or visit kots, vershes and other unauthorized tools of fishermen. From reed and forest "strings" almost impregnable for the hunter, wild boars raid the fields - they destroy wheat, corn, melons, potatoes, etc.

Rice. 92. Pieces of large whitish rhizomes of cattail, dug up by a wild boar
(strong mind). Volga Delta

If you meet a single large footprint of a wild boar in summer, it means that either an old male billhook has passed, or a younger one, whose fangs have not yet fully advanced from behind the lips. Males lead a hermitic way of life for most of the year and are known by hunters under the name "odintsov". Winter tracks of wild boars are deep; the undersized animal drags its legs strongly and often plows a continuous furrow in the snow.

long winter night pigs are usually spent feeding. In those places where they are little pursued, they are not averse to wandering during the day. For rest, pigs rake a fallen leaf, weeds or reeds with their feet and snouts, arranging a den with a diameter of 5-6 m, and lie down with the whole herd. Single boars make themselves a smaller bed, but much higher and warmer. In the summer, females, protecting themselves and their piglets from mosquitoes, make a kind of green arbors with a canopy of thick branches in frequent thickets.

Both wild boars and pigs rarely return to the lair where they have already rested once, and more often arrange a new one.

The number of newborn piglets in a litter is 6-10; they are born in April - May, in the south even at the end of March. Before giving birth, the pregnant female separates from the herd with which she spent the winter, and brings the cubs, secluded in a secluded place. The family joins other adult pigs and gilts only after the piglets are strong enough. Although the female carefully protects and very boldly protects the brood, piglets in the first months of life are fairly easy prey for large predators, especially for wolves, leopards, etc. During the first three months of life, at least 20 percent of the offspring die, and by autumn, no more than two or three piglets usually remain with each uterus.

Rice. 93. Traces of a piglet of a wild pig: on the left - at the beginning of summer, on the right - at the end of October (e.v.)
Volga Delta

At the beginning of summer, a family on the way makes a wide path, on which large, deep marks of the uterus are surrounded and entangled in several rows of light tracks of piglets. Lively, fast piglets, chasing each other, often run away from the road, make loops and circles, crossing the trail of an adult female, carefully and carefully choosing the path. In late autumn, next to the trace of the female, only traces of the few surviving and strongly grown piglets stretch; their behavior differs little from that of adult animals. In dense thickets, the family stretches out like a "goose" and makes its way along a narrow path, which is punched by the uterus going ahead. In feeding places, the traces of the brood diverge like a fan, to soon merge again into one stitch at the transition to a new grazing area.

Rice. 94. Footprints of a boar at a slow pace (d.)

In addition to burrows, patches of torn leaf and lairs, wild pigs leave long-lasting traces of bathing places - places where "mud baths" were taken. In the Caucasus, the wild boar swims almost all year round, but especially often in June, during the summer molt, and in autumn. Already at the end of September, wild boars begin to visit bathing places regularly; in October and especially in November, bathing takes on the character of a mass phenomenon and again becomes more rare in December, with the onset of significant cold weather. In the mountains, the usual places for boar mud baths are oozing springs and small basins with stagnant water, including even potholes with rain puddles on clay mountain roads, etc. Among the reed thickets, deep baths, surrounded by an oval roller of black silt displaced to the surface, are located along shallow waters or semi-dry shores close to the water's edge of a lake, a channel, etc. After the wild boar leaves, wild ducks willingly rinse in such "baths", shepherds and swamp chickens gather their food - a continuous pattern of bird paw prints soon appears on the bathing suit.

Rice. 95. Tracks of a galloping boar (d.)

A single male, stopping to rest and choosing a place to lay, behaves more carefully than a female. Usually he makes a semicircle, lies at the end of such a loop with his head towards the entrance track and "keeps his ear". The female does not make a circle and lies down on a straight track. In warm summer time, wild boars lie down both in glades and in the forest. In the rain and cold weather lone beds in the Caucasus are located only in the forest, more often at the base of the trunk of a dense tree, such as fir, or under uprooted roots. In reeds in such weather, the wild boar settles in dense thickets with a crease - a natural canopy of old fallen stems. A pig with piglets often lies under the protection of a tree with a large crown, in the thickets of young growth, entangled in hops, clematis and other climbing plants. The brood rests in a tight pile. Large herds, settling down to rest, are divided into groups or families of four to six heads each; these groups lie close to each other, often with their heads in different directions, which makes it easier to observe the possible approach of danger.

Wild pigs make especially large transitions in spring and early summer. Large summer aggregations of wild boars are observed in reed beds in places of mass hatching of migratory locusts, which are tasty food for pigs. Significant migrations are also noted in the fall, they are associated with the timing of the ripening of forest fruits, and in late autumn - with the search for productive feeding places and wintering with little snow. Wild boars endure mild winters easily, but in those years when deep snow falls or the soil freezes heavily, they quickly weaken from starvation, become easy prey for wolves, or freeze when they are extremely exhausted.

From November to January - the time of mating of wild boars: the pigs move to more remote places, and the billhooks, approaching the herds of queens, drive away the young. Only a month later, the piglets rejoin their mothers. Where strong boars fought, the ground is dug up and trampled down, spattered with blood and strewn with bristles.

In the last 30-35 years, hunting organizations in many regions of the European part of the RSFSR have been breeding wild pigs in forests and marshy lands. Numerous herds of them roam not only in middle lane, where there are oak forests and wild boars largely feed on acorns, but also much further north. Now wild boars have settled to the Vologda region, and in some cases reach the south of the Arkhangelsk region. There are many of them in the Kalinin, Yaroslavl and Moscow regions. Here, traces and sometimes these large and strong animals can often be found in the fields and hay meadows. They greatly harm plantings of potatoes and beets, crops of peas and oats. Sometimes hayfields spoil them very much. Sometimes wild boars enter vegetable gardens and even the outskirts of large cities. At present, a reasonable reduction in the number of wild boars is required, especially where there is little natural food and animals largely live off agricultural crops.

Tours and chamois

In the Caucasus, high above the forests, where herds of wild pigs roam, on bright lawns and gravel screes near eternal snows, you can find traces of other ungulates: mountain goats - tours and chamois.

Rice. 96. Hoof print of a male chamois (d.)

Inhabitants of impregnable heights, they rarely catch the eye. And only with good binoculars you can follow their movement along the rocks and ridges. Already from a distance, through the wide gorges, thorny paths are visible on the places of constant movements of mountain goats. In summer, the aurochs keep especially high, and in winter they are forced to descend closer to the upper border of the forest, where there are less deep snows and more food. At the steep ledges, on the centuries-old paths of the aurochs, fertilized with their droppings, the grass grows higher and more luxuriantly than away from the rocks. The floor of deep caves, located in inaccessible places in the mountains, where aurochs often hide from bad weather, is covered with a thick layer of "nuts", and shreds of faded aurochs fluff are visible in the cracks of the stones.

Rice. 97. Chamois droppings (e.v.)
North Caucasus, November

Chamois, one of the few antelopes found in the mountains, more often than tours, is in the forest and often comes to salt licks, completely covered with traces of roe deer and deer. The hooves of the chamois are very narrow and sharp; traces are easily distinguished from all others. On the high ridges of Central Asia and Siberia, several other species of mountain goats and wild sheep are found, but there is still too little information about their traces.

Questions for independent observations of ungulates

Describe the places where you met footprints different types hoofed animals. Were the animals a passageway or did they stay here for a long time? Number of animals, their size, age, sex. What is the size of the area occupied by them, how large are their daily transitions, are there any migrations, depending on the seasons and weather, from one area to another? Where, how and what kind of food do animals get for themselves? Are there signs of a hunger strike?
How do animals relate to the proximity of a person and the traces of his activity? Where and at what time do elk, deer and roe deer lose their antlers? How do they confuse their trail, how do they fight off attacking predators? Draw footprints, food debris, characteristic damage, lairs. After setting up trial plots, count the number of young trees killed by wild ungulates.

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 the 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, several factors must be linked together: the biology of the animal, the state of the weather both now and several hours before, and 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 trace harden, and the stronger, the lower the temperature, the trace “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, one must know the peculiarities of the positioning of 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 animal, 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:

badger trail	coot footprint
snipe trail	Moose footprint
Squirrel footprint	Bear footprint
beaver footprint	mink footprint
Lapwing track	Deer footprint
raccoon footprint	Muskrat footprint
Raccoon dog footprint	quail footprint
Capercaillie trail	lynx trail
Ermine footprint	wolverine trail
hori trail	hazel grouse trail
Manchurian deer trail	sable trail
boar trail	groundhog footprint

Animal tracks for children is one of the lessons in which we tried to combine several developmental areas: zoology, creativity, and even reading and logic. It can be a one-time lesson for an hour or a cycle of lessons "Traces of animals for children" - it's up to you.

Such activities will definitely interest both the child and the adult! These can be various types of benefits, the main requirement for them is the ability to attract the attention of kids.

Lesson on the study of animal tracks:

You can conduct an interesting lesson in which to introduce the kids closer to, and also find out what traces each of these animals leaves on earth. If you are studying winter footprints tell your child about winter.

Learning about animals and their footprints helps little ones delve deeper into the natural world. You can tell how some animals have learned to hide their tracks and confuse them; as in the footsteps of experienced hunters looking for their prey. Argue with little naturalists, in which case, at what time of the year the traces are more noticeable. Children, understanding the importance of knowing animal tracks for an animal or a person in the forest, acquire a desire to study them.

Animal tracks for children become interesting if it is possible to compare the image of an animal and the pattern of its tracks. We provide children with such an opportunity using colorful cards. Little trackers are happy to compare photos of animals, plates with their names and footprints. With smaller children, you can compare the size of the tracks and their owners: a small footprint - a small paw - a small animal.