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Attached is a series of digital photos of tracks of a
mystery animal walking in a dusting of fresh snow that was on top of
bare ice. It is interesting & challenging because the tracks show up
in distinct contrast to the snow, but only show up as general foot
outlines; no details can be seen in the toes.
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Habitat: Marsh next to a railroad, and surrounded by
oak woodlands. Suburb just outside of Hartford, CT.
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Time of year: January.
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Weather at time tracks were made: Clear &
bitterly cold (low temp of 5 degrees F).
Photo B1 is an overall shot showing the trail &
habitat. The tracks are on a muddy road that goes around the marsh, the
puddles on the road have frozen, and there is a dusting of fresh snow on
top. Photo B2 is zoomed in. Direction of travel was towards the camera.
As you can see, this was either 1 animal following the same route &
direction 3 times, or a pack of 3 animals traveling together.
Photo B3 is turned around, pointed in the direction of
travel, with B4 & B5 zoomed in. Note that the front & rear feet
are different sizes, with an alternating pattern of
small-large-small-large. Stride was 12" and very consistent. Trail
Width was 4½".
Photos B6 & B7 are closeups of the footprints. The
smaller print was 2" wide by 2" long; the larger print was
2" wide by 3" long.
Photo B8 shows that the animals entered a section of
unfrozen water after crossing the ice.
Good luck!
Brian |
