Return to flip book view
Who do you think went strolling along this creek? Trek on in and learn about tracks!Trek on in and learn about tracks! Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation, Issue No. 2, 2012In This Issue Track Detective p. 2-3Tracks and Trails p. 4-5Tracks at Work p. 6Trails Tell Tales p. 7Tracks in Action p. 8Wildlife Hunt: Find this little track on each page. Can you guess which animal it belongs to? Hint: It’s a “hairless” bird.Welcome to our second issue of Alaska’s Wild Wonders, a magazine for kids about animals, plants and all things wild in Alaska. In this issue, you will learn all about wildlife tracks! Did you know you can learn much more from a track than just the name of the animal that made it? is magazine will help you learn how to read tracks. We’ll explore an “animal crime scene,” learn some common Alaskan animal tracks and learn how biologists and others use tracks to help nd animals and estimate wildlife populations. Read on and learn to become a track detective! Alaska’sAlaska’sWWildild WWildild WWondersondersWWondersonders
Tracks and other evidence that animals leave behind can provide us with a lot of information. Just like how you must rst learn the alphabet before you can read words and then stories, with tracking you rst learn about tracks and their parts. en you learn how animals move, and add in information about habitat and animal behavior. When you can t all those pieces together, you can nd out which animals passed through an area and what happened. When tracking, think of the ve “W” questions that news reporters ask: Who, What, Where, When, Why? Asking those questions will help you uncover the stories tracks can tell. Who? Who was in the area? Although some tracks may look similar, every wildlife species leaves a distinct track. For example, members of the cat family have four toes on their front and hind feet and rarely show claw marks in their tracks. Other major animal groups like weasels, canines, rodents, hooved animals, birds, and bears leave very dierent tracks. Learning what dierent tracks look like will help you identify who’s been there. What? What were the animals doing? Reading a string of tracks can help tell you. Was the animal walking or running, chasing something, lying down, or doing something else? is can be dicult to tell and may require you to follow the tracks and carefully observe changes.Where? Where are you? Look around at the habitat and think about the animals you would expect to see. Which way do the tracks go? When? When did animals visit here? In order to age tracks you must be a keen observer of the weather. When was the last rain or snow? Is the wind blowing? Has the sun been shining? Has the temperature been warm enough to thaw the ground or cold enough to freeze it? Maybe both? Why? Why were the animals there? Dierent kinds of animal sign include tracks, scat (feces or poop), hair, chew marks, feathers, blood, bones, nests, dens, and more. Examining all animal sign in the area and looking at the entire scene can help piece together what happened.In this picture you can see hare scat, twigs cut at a 45 degree angle, and bark chewed o of the willows – all signs of snowshoe hare activity.Can you see tracks in the mud? Mink, beaver, otter and vole all used this river bar. Lynx are members of the cat family; cat tracks show four toes on front and hind feet. e arrows show the direction these snowshoe hares traveled. If you wanted to nd a hare, you would need to know that hares bound, meaning their front feet land and then their hind feet pass over the front feet. e hind feet of a hare show up in the front of a track – and they are huge! Look at these grizzly bear tracks in the sand. ey look old because they have rounded edges and look fuzzy, not sharp. But are they old? It’s hard to know. A strong wind could round and cover tracks very quickly. Become a track detective!Become a track detective!Become a track detective!Become a track detective!2
Can you see tracks in the mud? Mink, beaver, otter and vole all used this river bar. ClawsToesPalm padsHeel padsNotice that the palm and heel pad are fused on the hind foot – that’s just like our feet! Black Bear Front Black Bear HindParts of a TrackHow many toes are showing? Some animals have four toes, some ve, some even have ve on the hind feet and four on the front feet. Some birds show three toes and some show four. ere is a lot to learn because there are so many dierent kinds of tracks. Are there claws showing? Most animals show claws in their tracks but some do not. For example, members of the cat family have retracted claws, which hardly ever show, while members of the dog family typically do show claws in their tracks. What’s the size of the track? Size is very important. Canines have some similar characteristics in their tracks but fox, coyote, and wolf have dierent size tracks depending on the size of the animal. e same with weasels such as mink, marten, wolverine, ermine, and otter. ink about the size of vole tracks!Plantigrade: Planti-what? is just means walking with your heel on the ground. Heavy back-ended animals such as humans, bears and beavers walk this way. Ask your parents if they have ever gotten plantar fasciitis, a common foot problem for plantigrade humans. Unguligrade: Unguli-who? Hooved animals like moose and caribou take locomotion to the extreme and walk on their toe nails (which are the hooves). Foot bones are incorporated into the legs, which are very long. Ungulates are generally very fast animals.Digitigrade: Digita-huh? Simply put, it means walking on your toes (your digits). When you walk on your toes you increase the length of your legs which makes you faster. Animals such as dogs and cats walk on their digits. Ways of WalkingBecome a track detective!Become a track detective!Become a track detective!Become a track detective!Walk: An easy pace where each foot moves independently. Most animals walk sometimes. Trot: Faster than a walk. Opposite side front and hind legs move together. Canines and voles usually trot. Bound and Hops (Rodents and Hares): An animal bounds or hops if it pushes o with both hind feet at the same time. A bound is when the hind feet land exactly in the front tracks or past the front feet. Sometimes the term hopping or jumping is used as a substitute for bounding.Lopes and Gallops (Weasels): ese are the fastest gaits for animals. All feet are landing independently of each other. All animals can use this gait. Trail width or straddleStride lengthA gait is the way an animal moves. Knowing dierent gaits helps with track identication. ink! In walks and trots every track is actually two tracks. Why?GaitWith these gaits, sets of tracks are in distinct groups with a space between groups.is picture shows a squirrel’s hind feet landing in front of its front feet.3
Bird tracks come in dierent shapes and sizes. e dierence between bird species isn’t always reected in the tracks. Birds usually leave behind more delicate prints in the sand, mud or snow. Consider the type of habitat you’re in rst. What types of birds live here? Ducks, geese and gulls have three long toes that all face forward with webbing in between. e webbing may not show in the track. Shorebirds, such as sandpipers, have three toes pointing forward and a fourth smaller toe that angles o to the side. For perching birds, such as songbirds, the fourth toe points straight back allowing it to wrap its feet around a branch.Ermine Front & Hind: Length= .8-1.3 in.Width= .5-.6 in.Larger bird prints: Duck speciesSmall prints: Sandpiper speciesShort-tailed Weasel are commonly called ermine or stoat. Like other members of the Weasel Family, the tracks have ve toes on both the front and hind feet. Ermine move by bounding, with hind feet oen landing in the exact same place as the front feet, especially in snow. e tracks may disappear into a tunnel as the ermine burrows into the snow in pursuit of prey, such as mice or voles. Its closest relative in Alaska is the least weasel. Other members of the weasel family include mink, otter, marten, sher and wolverine.4Tracks & Tracks & Trails TrailsTracks & Tracks & Trails Trails
Moose are the largest member of the Deer Family in North America. Moose, known as unguligrade animals, walk gracefully on two toes/nails called hooves. When tracks are le in snow or mud deeper than an inch or when running, the dewclaws (two additional toes) can be seen trailing behind the hoof. is helps to support its tremendous weight (600 to 1100 pounds). A moose’s walking gait shows in the tracks as an alternating pattern, with the hind feet landing close to or on top of the front tracks. Moose are huge and so are their tracks! Gray Wolf tracks, like the tracks of all members of the Dog or Canid Family, show four toes on each track with claw marks extending in front of the toe pads. It can be a challenge to dierentiate between a wolf track and someone’s large pet dog. Wolves are digitigrade animals. A walking or trotting wolf leaves an alternating track pattern and the hind tracks sometimes land directly on the front tracks. is is called direct registering. When a wolf begins to move faster and gallop, the track pattern begins to curve into a C-shape, as the hind feet move o to one side.Gray Wolf Front: Length=4-5.5 in.Width= 2.5-5 in.(Hind print is slightly smaller) Moose Front & Hind: Length= 4-7 in.Width= 3-6 in.Porcupine tracks have four toes on the front feet and ve toes on the hind feet, which is true for other members of the Rodent Family. e claws show clearly, and sometimes you’ll see the bumpy texture of the heel pads. ese rough pads are helpful for gripping when climbing trees. Do you see how the feet point in slightly? Porcupine waddle when walking. Sometimes, drag marks are le behind each set of tracks. Porcupine Front: Length= 2.3-3.3 in.Width= 1.5 in.Porcupine Hind: Length= 2.8-4 in. Width= 1.5-2 in.5Tracks & Tracks & Trails TrailsLearn more about Alaska’s wildlife at www.wildlife.alaska.gov.Tracks & Tracks & Trails Trails
6Tracks at WorkTracks at WorkEstimating wildlife populations Let’s say wildlife biologists need to determine how many wolverines live in a certain area. Wolverines are hard to nd, but one way to count them is to y in a small airplane with skis aer a snowstorm to look for fresh tracks. Once the biologists spot wolverine tracks from the air, they follow them to determine how far the wolverines moved. Using that measurement, the biologists use advanced math to determine the chance they might nd that same track again. With that information, they can then use a complicated formula to estimate the size of the wolverine population. It may sound like magic, but it actually works! Trappers, hunters and professional trackers all use tracks to nd animals and to learn about animal interactions. Biologists use tracks to nd animals and learn about them, and also sometimes to estimate numbers of animals. Finding animalse trapper, shown above, used tracks to determine a good location to set a trap for this wolverine. Animals can be hard to see in the wild, but if you know what their tracks look like, you can greatly increase your chance of nding them whether you are hunting, trapping or simply studying animals. Research biologists used tracks to capture the wolverine shown in the box below. Next to the wolverine is an example of what its tracks look like in snow. Do you like the tracks in this magazine? Many are from www.bear-tracker.com, an excellent website all about tracking. Check it out!Tracks at WorkTracks at Work
7Tracks at WorkTracks at WorkAnimal Trails Tell TalesAnimal Trails Tell TalesScale= approx. 5 inchesWhich animals are represented by the tracks above? What is the name of the gait each animal is using? Did any gaits change or did they all stay the same? Animal _________________________ Gait _________________________ Animal _________________________ Gait _________________________ Animal _________________________ Gait _________________________Animal _________________________ Gait _________________________ In what order did the animals leave these tracks? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What happened here? What is your interpretation of this scene? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On Your Own- On your own piece of paper using your track and sign knowledge, create a realistic scenario in which animals have an interaction. Be creative. Show your track scene to a friend or parent and see if they can gure out what happened.Answers - Turn upside down to read! Animal Trails Tell Tales: 1) A squirrel bounded or hopped from the tree to the fallen log. 2) en a moose walked by from le to right.3) en a wolf walked into the picture from the top, smelled fresh moose and galloped o aer the moose. 4) A raven also landed on the log at some time.Wildlife Hunt: is track is from a bald eagle. Matching Tracks (p.8): Tracks on le in order – caribou, porcupine, wolf, bear, raven, mooseCrossword Puzzle (p. 8): 1: Bounding 2: Track 3-Down: Straddle 3-Across: Stride 4: Scat 5: Sign 6: Gait 7: Trail 8: RegisterTracks at WorkTracks at Work
A good time to go tracking is right aer it rains or snows. Walk through a local park, a natural area, along a trail or the edge of a lake or river. Take a camera, notebook, ruler, magnifying lens and a eld guide to identify animal tracks. Here are a few questions to help you in your discoveries:How many dierent tracks can you see? How many animal species are represented? Which animal made the biggest track? Which made the smallest track? Did any of the animals seem to be running, based on track measurements? Did you see other animal sign (browse, scat, fur, feathers, etc.)? Did you observe any evidence of animals interacting with each other? Consider the habitat. Did you nd any animals you didn’t expect to see in that habitat? Why might animal tracks be useful for trappers, hunters or biologists? Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation Issue No. 2Head outside and see what you can find! Matching TracksDraw a line to the animal and its matching track. Crossword Word Bank: You may not need to use all of the words belowsign trail porcupine scat track straddle gait palm bounding register unguligrade strideDOWN1. A gait of four-legged animals in which the two hind feet land at the same time, usually registering in front of the forefeet.2. e impression le on the ground aer an animal passes by. 3. e total width of the trail, all prints considered.5. Any evidence an animal leaves behind that helps us determine who it is.7. A string of tracks and other sign le behind by an animal. ACROSS3. e distance from the rear of one track to the rear of the next track made by the same foot (the length of one complete step). 4. Solid or semi-solid excrement; feces.6. e way in which an animal moves. 8. To leave a mark- referring to a foot, claw or other part of an animal’s body.Tracker’s Crossword ChallengeWolf track in snow (above), moose track in dirt. 27658341Tracks in Action Tracks in Action Tracks in Action Tracks in Action ADF&G administers all programs and activities in compliance with state and federal civil rights and equal opportunity laws. Obtain the full ADF&G and Americans with Disabilities Act and Oce of Equal Opportunity statement online at www.adfg.state.ak.us or from the Division of Wildlife Conservation at 907-465-4190.8