Animals by their tracks

Distinguish between the tracks of a cat and a fox, and those of a cow and a deer.

Men are increasingly city dwellers. We can spend a few days' vacation on the other side of the world, or in the countryside 30 km from home... In both cases, there's a high probability that we'll be unaware of the fauna in the environment where we land.

Insects, spiders, batrachians, reptiles and other clawed and furry mammals populate our fears and will join the frightening bestiary of "Jaws", "Anaconda", "Birds", "Willard", "Spiders" and hundreds of other films that no sensible country-dweller would ever have even imagined.

City dwellers are well-conditioned when it comes to wild animals. But his ignorance saves him: he's often unable to distinguish a squirrel's tracks from those of a skunk, if he even notices a track, a mark, a smell or a turd. The signs of animal presence around him escape him most of the time, so he doesn't worry about them until nightfall.

But if, in the course of his wanderings, he ventures off the beaten track, he may come across traces of animal presence. In deserts, marshes, fields, mountains, on snow, sand, mud or earth, animals leave traces of their passage or activity.

So we can know what to expect and make associations between environments, smells, sounds and local inhabitants; with a little more knowledge we can even know when to come and where to stand to observe them, how to attract them or keep them away. But first, knowing how to recognize tracks is a good starting point.

Here are a few references to help you learn to recognize animal tracks, memorize them and even carry them with you on your phone.

Animal tracks

Mammal footprints - Table by category
Practical and visual, by experienced people.

Bird tracks - Table by category
Based on the same principle