A trace of a bear. Traces of wild animals

If you enter the summer forest by day, it will seem that only birds and insects live in it. In winter, in general, he can appear uninhabited. However, is that? That gives out an animal presence - prints of their paws. The track of the bear and moose, fox and wolf, hare and mouse clearly tells the observer that these creatures inhabit forest territory.

What is the freshness of the trace and how is it determined?

The observer is interested, and it is important for the hunter to know when one or the other trace was left. The animal passed here a few days ago, maybe hours? Or is it still running somewhere ahead? This is evidenced by such a notion as the freshness of the track.

If the snow has passed late in the evening or at night, the bear's paw track, discovered in the morning, will say that he is nocturnal and he does not have more than a few hours. It is worthwhile to beware, because in the winter, only the bear-rod can leave its prints.

Experts suggest to determine the freshness of the track to the touch. If the street is freezing and snow is dry, then at first its boundaries will not differ by the friability from the rest of the surface. Over time, the walls of the track harden. This process is directly dependent on the air temperature. The stronger the frost, the sooner the boundaries of the print become firm. But this applies only to a large beast, for example, if it is a trail of a brown bear or a wolf. Because small animals leave prints on the surface. And there the hardening is not noticeable.

How to determine the direction of movement of an animal?

To do this, you need to carefully consider the traces on the snow. Animals, large enough in size, it is easy to determine by the size of the print. The observer may notice that his walls are different.

On the side where the track has a back wall, a more flat edge will be seen. This is because the animal puts the limbs gently, and takes them out of the snow almost vertically. These borders even have their names: povoloka and evacuation respectively. The wire is always shorter than the pull. That is, the front wall is steeper than the rear. Therefore, the beast moved to where it was aimed.

How to know the gait of an animal on his trail?

In other words, the pace of movement. It can be of two kinds. The first characterizes the slow and moderately fast rate of motion. It stands out step, trot and amble. The second boils down to a quick run with successive leaps. They are already talking about a gallop and a career.

Footprints in the snow of animals left at a moderate canter are pairs of prints of the hind limbs. This is due to the fact that they are repelled by their hind legs and place them exactly in the recesses from the forelegs. This gait is characteristic of animals with an elongated body and short paws, for example, marten. If the beast does not hurry, then it may not reach the footprints to the prints. Then there are groups of three or four tracks.

There are small animals that can go into quarry. These are squirrels and rabbits. Their gait is characterized by the fact that the hind legs are thrown forward forward. And the prints on the snow look the same: the points of the front behind the prints of the rear.

Exciting traces of a bear

These prints are alarming. Especially in winter or early spring, when the beast is hungry. Having met the track of a bear in the snow, you can be relatively calm only in the middle of autumn, when it goes into hibernation. But you can see his prints and in summer on loose sand the banks of the river or other pond where he came to fishing.

Indeed, to meet a bear and cause his fury is dangerous. Because it reaches a height of about two and a half meters, and its weight can be more than three centners. It is better to bypass the beast side.

About the trail of a polar bear

Due to the peculiarities of the habitat, its prints are always visible, unless it has passed through the clear ice. Traces of a polar bear are not the same as those of its dark relatives. The fingerprints of his front paw are clearly visible. In addition, due to the fact that he has less corns, the outlines of the track look neat. Since the claws of the polar bear barely bend, they leave barely noticeable marks on the snow. And this despite the fact that the size of these claws are very impressive!

The hind legs of a polar bear leave such a pattern as the foot of a man shod in fur. If the snow is loose, then there will be visible grooves from the claws. An animal's fur leaves strips on the snow near the foot of the paws. It turns out as if a trace was made along the path next to the prints.

What does the imprint of the front legs of a brown bear look like?

This bear track always has a clear fingerprint of the pads of all five fingers. Before these specks, five deep grooves are clearly visible. They are formed from long and slightly curved claws. Behind them, a broad imprint is clearly drawn, resembling a kidney in appearance. It remains of the metatarsal cecum. This print on the inside is narrower. Its outer edge is wider.

What kind of print is the back of a brown bear's paw?

Such a trail of a bear will always consist of a print of the full sole of the animal. He is akin to the figure that turned out if a barefooted man with a clearly pronounced flat feet stood in the snow. But there is one serious difference. Fingers on the human foot decrease from the inner edge to the outer edge. On the paw of the bear everything is exactly the opposite. The finger in the inner part of the foot is the smallest, while the others increase as it approaches its outer part. The claws on the hind legs are much shorter and more bent. But even here they leave a noticeable drawing near each finger.

Age of the bear in its wake

If we talk about the age of the animal, then it can be determined by the size of the tracks. An example is the size of the metacarpal crumb of the front paw. Its approximate values are given in the table.

The length of the print of the rear paw of an adult bear can reach 31 cm. And its characteristic of a "clumsy" bear was not accidental. He really puts his paws so that the toe is directed inwards, and the heel is outward.

What marks are left by the bears?

In addition to footprints on the ground and snow, in the forest you can see other marks that these animals make.

The first thing to begin with is traces in the feeding areas. For example, in the spring, when hungry bears come out of the den, they often devastate the anthills. Beasts destroy their tops in order to reach insects and larvae. In autumn, bears are not averse to eating fruits from trees. In the place of their feeding, there are always a lot of broken branches.

The next notable signs of the bears' habit are the marks on tree trunks. It can be a scratch or a snack, a scuffle or a teaser.

Scuffing is formed from friction against the bark, when the bear stands on its hind legs. The animal can cross the tree with a withers or back of the neck, back or chest. The bear does it with its teeth, standing on its hind legs and grasping the bark. Tad animal makes too, standing on hind legs. Then he pulls up the front paw and pulls it down the trunk. As a result, narrow strips of cut bark appear at the bottom of the tree.

Tedders creep through the trees. At the same time, they grasp the trunk with their front paws. There are four long, deep, oblique scratches on the bark. The fifth claw is not involved in this process. Scratches are directed from top to bottom and toward the middle. For convenience, bear cubs rest against the trunk with their hind legs. In this case, the claws deeply dig into the bark.

Traces of other animals in the snow

• The wolf . His tracks are difficult to distinguish from dogs. The main feature is how the extremities are arranged. In the dog's tracks, they retreat from the heel further. And they end also at another distance. If this is a wolf track, the ends of the fingerprint of the side fingers slightly reach the beginning of those in the middle. At the dog their ending will be almost half of the inner fingers.
• The fox . Outwardly its tracks are very similar to canine. But they have a feature: they are stretched in a thin chain.
• Boar . Their hoofs are small and forked. If they are left in the snow, the marks will be deep. Because this beast is heavy, and the snow does not stand it.
• The elk . It looks like a boar, but much larger. And the elk's step is much wider.
• The mouse . It leaves a chain of two parallel strips of small traces.