They swim under the ice during the winter to find food,” Druck said. Cougars (mountain lions) have been spotted all over California including city neighborhoods. “Some people think beaver hibernate, but they don’t. The area around Princeton is home to many members of the weasel family, including ermine, mink, otter, beaver, marten and wolverine.īeaver tracks are easy to notice because they drag their heavy tails behind, making the actual footprints hard to see.īoth beaver and otter have webbed feet that allow them to swim fast. “Wolf prints can be as big as a camera case, so watch out for large prints,” Druck said. Wolves have a much longer stride and bigger paws than coyotesĬlaws can be seen on both coyote and wolf tracks, unlike those from the cat family that have contacted nails. In addition, cat-family prints are circular, while dog-family prints are more oval.Ĭoyote and wolves have similar footprints - with some important exceptions. Prints from animals in the cat family don’t have their claws showing, unlike those from wolves or coyotes. The hind track is narrower than the front one. Thank you This pair of cougar tracks shows the hind print on top of the front one. This print shows all the feline track characteristics. Lynx paw prints are about an inch bigger than a bobcat’s. Beautiful right front cougar footprint in snow. “You won’t find bobcat up high in the mountains, because they’ll be picked off by another predator - a cougar for example. Their tracks are very shallow compared to a bobcat’s, which sink far into the snow.īobcats can’t survive easily in deep snow because they sink, Druck said. This was on the trail this morning after a very heavy rain last night. Lynx eat mostly snowshoe hair, so they need to stay on top of the snow to quickly pounce. Cougar Paw Print I live on Cougar Mountain, and I have spent a fair bit of time traipsing through the trails, but never seen a cougar. Telling the difference between bobcat and lynx tracks is simple, Druck said. Look at size, number of toes, toenail function and length of stride when trying to figure out which kind of animal has wandered by, he said. Telling the difference between wolf and coyote or bobcat and lynx footprints can be impossible for the untrained eye, but Weyerhaeuser’s chief forester Norman Druck aimed to change that for a crowd that packed into a Vermillion Forks Naturalist Society meeting on Jan. While deer and bird tracks are likely the most common prints to be spotted in backyards, many different footprints can be seen in the forest close by. Princeton residents can see animal tracks from their doorsteps during the winter, but it’s often difficult to determine exactly what kind of creature left the prints.
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