How to Identify Small Animal Tracks
The tracks left behind by smaller animals are sometimes much more difficult to identify than those of larger ones. Smaller animals have less weight, so they often leave only partial tracks in mud, clay, sand or soft soil. Smaller animals also leave incomplete sets of tracks, with their markings showing up for short stretches before the animal moves back onto solid ground. To identify the tracks you encounter as those of a small animal--and then to establish the identity of the creature--takes patience and practice.
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Things You'll Need
- Field guide to animal tracks
- File cards
- Camera
- Tape measure or plastic ruler
- Notepad and pencil
Instructions
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1
Purchase a reliable and detailed field guide to animal tracks. Buy one that is specific to the part of the United States in which you live. Read it thoroughly and familiarize yourself with the different types of smaller animals that exist where you live. The Peterson Field Guides are among the most comprehensive and easy to use.
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2
Make up a system of file cards on each small animal in your region. Writing the information down from your field guides will make some of it stand out to you and you will remember it more easily. Use online sites if you do not have a field guide. Sketch the tracks these animals make and include anything from the guides and sites that can aid in identification of the tracks.
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3
Venture near waterways, ponds and lakes in the warmer climates and months. Your chances of finding tracks made by small mammals increases greatly near water and where there is soft soil, mud and clay. Waterways are prime habitat for every small mammal species, giving them a place to hunt, drink or feed on the vegetation, insects and aquatic life.
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Give yourself the best chance to identify small animal tracks by searching for them after the first light snowfall in colder climates. Light snow will not keep small animals in their dens. Look in the fields, roadsides and woods for tracks.
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Measure the length and width of tracks you find. Take notes about where you located the track that can help to identify the small animal by its habitat.
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6
Count the number of toes in a track. The number of toes is the single most important feature to help to identify a track, especially in small animals. Four front toes and five back toes in a set of tracks means a rodent left them. Five both in front and in back means the tracks belong to some member of the weasel family. The majority of the small animal tracks you discover will be from these two families of mammals.
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Look for four toes on each foot to identify canines or felines. Look for claw marks at the bases of the toes, which will further help you identify that a canine such as a red fox, wolf or coyote left the track. Canines leave claw marks in their tracks, while felines have retractable claws and do not leave claw marks.
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Take pictures of the clearest tracks you find and identify them at home. Utilize the diagrams and photos of small animal tracks you locate on online websites to match your picture to the correct animal.
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