ANIMAL TRACKS AND TRACES

Articles In This Section:

· Exploring

· BRANCHES AND LEAVES - Part 1

· BRANCHES AND LEAVES - Part 2

· BRANCHES AND LEAVES - Part 3

· ANIMAL TRACKS AND TRACES

· BIRDWATCHING

· BIRDCALLS AND OTHER SOUNDS - Part 1

· BIRDCALLS AND OTHER SOUNDS - Part 2

· LOOKING FOR LESSER CREATURES

· STARGAZING

You are already familiar with some tracks and traces of animals and you know that if you want to observe animals or photograph them you first have to track down their crossings, runs, and drinking and feeding places. Here are some more examples of the traces left by animals.

These are droppings of a buck. The balls are drawn out at one end, pushed in on the other.

These are droppings of a doe—smaller and drawn out at both ends.

Everywhere in the fields and woods, in stone piles, near holes in the ground, and around buildings there are tracks of the predatory weasel. The southern American weasel remains brown all year round, but there are other species whose fur in summer is reddish-brown on top, yellowish-white underneath, and changes in the winter to completely white except for the end of the tail, which remains jet-black. The body of this animal is about 16 inches long, the tail about 4 inches.

You can easily recognize the pawprint of the otter by the webbed toes. Otters, found throughout the United States and Canada, live in burrows that have underwater entrances. Their droppings are full of fish scales.