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Tracking
Quizzes
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Quiz #43 - Question
Photos and text by Brian Booth |
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| Here’s an introductory quiz for anyone new to
tracking, a basic animal that all trackers should get down solidly. (Hint:
The answer is not “Tibetan Snow Leopard” or something like that.) However,
although it’s a common animal, there is some challenge in that basically
only the gait can be seen in the tracks; there is hardly any detail that can
be seen in the individual footprints, and even with that, the gait appears
irregular because some footprints did not display at all. This is a good
quiz if you would like to introduce someone to the world of tracking in an
easy way. |
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Photo 43A Habitat: The
glorious North Cascades mountains of Washington, elevation 7,000
feet
Time of year: October (the best time to see the western larch
trees in their fall color).
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Photo 43B There is patchy
snow on the ground from the first winter storm. (In the severe
climate of the North Cascades at this high of an elevation, “winter”
starts in early October.) |
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Photo 43C
What a stroke
of luck – there is an animal trail right down the center of a thin
patch of snow |
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Photo 43D Photo 43D is an
overhead shot of the trail. The stride ranged from 7 to 8 inches. |
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Photos 43E / 43F / 43G are zoomed in to show individual groups of tracks.
The trail width of the large feet ranged from 2½ to 2¾ inches, and the
trail width of the small feet ranged from 1¼ to 1½ inches. The large feet
measured about 5/8 inch long by 5/8 inch wide. The small feet measured
about ½ inch long by ½ inch wide. |
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Photo 43E |
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Photo 43F |
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Photo 43G |
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Questions:
1. What animal made the tracks?
2. Which
direction was the animal going?
3. Which prints are the front tracks,
and which are the hind tracks? |
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