ANIMAL TRACKS
Tracking animals can be very fun. Everyone likes to know what animal and sometimes animals have left what tracks in their yard or field, etc. I hope this page will help you figure out those mysterious tracks.
Pictures are not to scale.
Where tracks are displayed, I use a .22 caliber long round to show size. This bullet, is almost exactly 1 inch long.
Bobcat track and bobcat front foot
This is a bobcat track that I found on the dam of our pond after a snow during December, 2008. Cats are the only mammal that walk on their toes. All other mammals walk on their toes and claws (like the dog) or their whole foot and claws (like bears). However, in deep mud or snow, a claw-mark will often be seen. This is just because the retractable claw is being forced against the snow or mud as the animal walks.
Looking at the above footprint you will note that all four toes are above the pad of the print. The print is also a loose oval shape. Now compare this to the coyote track below.
Coyote tracks and coyote front foot
In the above photos, the photo on the right is the front foot print of a coyote. On the right is the front foot of a coyote. The easiest way to tell the difference between canine (dog) and feline (cat) tracks is that with a canine track you can draw an 'X' through the track (as noted below). You will notice that it is not easy to see the toenail prints in this track. This is why you need to have some other knowledge of tracking to know what animal track you are looking looking at.
Below is a very good resource for additional information, especially tracks that I have not added yet.
http://www.bear-tracker.com/mammals.html
This page on canine vs. feline has much more information than I have listed here and you will find it very useful.