Tracks and Scats

Well, here are several from my webpage on mountain lions. You can also see track diagrams, comparisons to wolf tracks or other canine tracks, mountain lion scat, etc. It's easily the most popular page at my website. There are several mountain-lion track photos below, but I'd be swamping the thread if I posted here everything I have. Hope this helps.

Here are a couple of tracks I'd like people's opinions on. The first one I THINK might be wolf. This is in Michigan' UP about a quarter mile from Lake Superior. Hiking the North Country Trail had us do a very short road walk on a small gravel road. They were in groups of four with large gaps between the groups of 4 (running I assume?) with deer tracks in a similar pattern. Now I suppose this could be a large domestic dog but wolves were almost put on the game list this year until the feds told the state no and my hiking partners heard the wolves at night.




The 2nd here we are guessing it was a Box Turtle but we weren't sure.

I guess if I had thought about it more I would have tried to get a picture of all 4 tracks together. I did follow these groups of tracks for about 50 feet or so until they went off into the brush. The gap between the groups of 4 I'd guess to be about 5 feet (maybe more). However, if it was a wolf it was by itself or the other others were running beside the road. I suppose the deer tracks that it appeared to be following could have just been a coincidence.

Came across this in Caruthers Canyon in the Mojave Desert, southern California. I figure a day old. No one was camped in the area except me and a hiking buddy. Boot prints are ours. Scott was in front and didn't see the print.

Human. Possibly female or juvenile.

Could you give me a size for scale? Smaller might be raccoon. Larger could be beaver.

I don't think I want to play a guessing game here, and that's kind of where we end up without more information. So here are some ideas on what information to include with a photo to help other people identify the animal that made the track:

[/u]: If possible, include in the photo some common item close to the track to indicate size. Such items could include coins, a standard pencil, or even a six-inch ruler.

2) Measurements: If you measure a track but don't include an item above to show scale, then indicate which measurement you are including. Front track length or width, rear track length or width. If you can't be sure of which is front or rear track, then somehow indicate clearly which track in the photo you are referring to, such as: upper right, lower right, bottom left, top left, center of photo, etc.

3) Location: You might mention state and region, such as NW Pennsylvania. Include the forest, state park, national park and so on. Or mention a nearby mapped location, such as town.

4) Habitat or ecosystem and elevation: Is it alpine Rocky Mountains, Southwest desert riparian zone, East Coast ocean beach, Appalachian lake shore at 3000 feet, evergreen forest, broad-leaf forest, aspen, oak, or pine forest, etc.? Damp sand could be found in many of those areas, but a specific animal may be rare or it may be commonplace.[/ul]
It's tough enough to identify an animal from only one track in a photograph. And most answers are likely to be speculation. But to eliminate wild guessing games over a single set of tracks, it is better to include as much helpful information as you can provide. And that requires some consideration at the time you take the photo and at the time you post the photo.