AT HOME IN THE WILDERNESS: ANIMAL TRACKING

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Diagonalwalkers — like the cats, dogs, and hoofed animals — lift front and hind feet on opposite sides of the body at the same time, alternating sides as they go. This movement leaves a staggered set of tracks. At progressively higher speeds, diagonal walkers often move into trotting, loping, bounding, and finally galloping patterns.

Bounders include members of the weasel family (except for the wide-bodied shufflers . . . such as skunks, badgers, and wolverines). These animals hop in a series of "stitching" jumps in which the front feet come down first and the back feet pull up right behind them. Bounders maintain this pattern most of the time regardless of speed (though the "stride" increases — that is, the jumps become longer — when the beast hurries).

Gallopers are animals — such as rabbits — that hunch their bodies even more than do bounders . . . bringing their hind feet down in front and to the side of the front paws. This gait usually creates an easily recognized U-shaped track pattern. If the prints of the two front feet regularly lie side by side, the track probably was made by a tree-dwelling creature — perhaps a squirrel — while a consistent pattern of diagonal front-foot marks indicates a ground-dwelling animal, such as a rabbit. (Incidentally, tree-dwelling and ground-dwelling bird tracks can generally be distinguished in a similar way. Arboreal "hoppers" leave parallel prints, while "walking" birds stroll on the bias.) The speed of a galloper can be determined partly by the increasing distance between sets of tracks.

Pacers include such wide-bodied animals as raccoons, opossums, bears, beavers, porcupines, wolverines, badgers, and skunks. These beasts usually move both feet on one side of the body at the same time in a shuffling or lumbering fashion. As their speed increases, the broadbeamed members of the weasel family — wolverines, badgers, and skunks — progress from pacing to bounding. Other pacers, though, often move first into a diagonal trot, then into a bounding lope, and finally into a full gallop.

Footprints are only one of the groups of animal signs that an experienced tracker reads. In fact, an astute nature observer, realizing that almost every facet of the surrounding environment can contribute to the understanding of a track, tries to interpret the entire landscape. For example, animals create a wealth of thoroughfares, as was pointed out in my article on survival traps (see MOTHER NO. 74, page 70), and many of them are much like our own highways and side streets.

The most obvious routes are the trails. . . well-worn paths that are generally used by a wide variety of species. Runs are less noticeable pathways that connect trails to feeding, bedding, and watering areas. Usually these will be traveled by only one or two kinds of animals and are subject to constant change. Pushdowns are the sudden escape routes indicated by vegetation that has been crushed in one direction. Beds are habitual sleeping spots, sometimes lined with fur or other debris. They often appear as well-used depressions in thickets, grasses, and hollow logs or under rocks. Lays are less-frequented resting spots, typically near feeding or watering areas. They are indicated by depressed vegetation and will often show the outline of the animal.

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