Hey Guys!
Squeaks and I were just outside, playing in the mud!
[Squeaks squeaks]
It’s wet out there, and wet weather can make a lot of mud.
Mud’s fun to play around in, but what I really like about it is that it’s great
for spotting animal tracks!
When it’s really muddy outside, I like to see how many tracks I can find, and try to
guess which kind of animal made which track!
We look at animal tracks for fun, but some people do it as part of their job!
Checking out animal tracks is really important for scientists who study animals.
That’s because tracks help scientists understand where an animal lives, when it travels from
place to place, if it moves in groups or by itself, and a lot more.
You might even say that these scientists are kind of like detectives, and the tracks are
their clues!
But you need special skills to tell one kind of animal print from another!
You see, not all tracks are alike.
Different animals leave behind different tracks.
And you won’t just find tracks out in the woods -- Animals live everywhere, even in
big cities!
So you might be surprised by how many different tracks you’ll find if you look hard enough!
But where exactly should you be looking, when you’re searching for animal tracks?
Well, one good place to start is … mud!
Animal tracks show up really well on wet ground, so look for muddy spots near water, or after
a good rain shower, or when snow has melted!
Some tracks show up nicely in snow, too, or in dry dirt, but when scouting for animal
tracks, remember—mud is your friend!
Next, after you’ve found a track—or several tracks!—it’s time to start asking some
questions.
How many tracks are there?
Which way are they going?
What are they shaped like?
And, maybe most fun of all, which animal might have left them behind?
Let’s take a look at this track.
If you see a track that’s paw-shaped and has four or five toes, it’s probably been
left by a mammal!
It could be a dog—like these—or a cat, like these.
If you ever see a track in the mud that looks sort of like a dog or cat track, but is much
smaller...say, hardly larger than a penny, then you’ve probably found a squirrel track,
like these.
But of course, mammals aren’t the only animals that leave tracks behind.
One of the most common animal tracks you’ll see is this one: a deer track.
Deer tracks don’t look like pawprints, do they?
Do you see those two large, curvy marks?
Those are the two halves of a deer’s foot, called a hoof.
Each half leaves a mark that looks like a tiny horn, with a point and the top and a
small spot at the bottom.
Now, what if you find fork-shaped tracks, like these?
Well, they’ve probably been left behind by a bird!
Birds, deer, squirrels, dogs, and cats are some of the most common animal tracks you’ll
find when you’re playing animal track detective.
So, do you think we’re ready to play?
Let’s test our track-naming skills!
I’ll show you a track, and you guess what kind of animal might have made it, based on
what we just learned, OK?
OK!
Here’s track number 1.
What do you see?
It looks like a paw, right, so it’s probably a mammal.
Good!
But it’s a really small track.
Smaller than even a little house cat might leave.
I’m going to guess “squirrel.”
Yay!
It is a squirrel track!
Time for track number 2.
Hmm.
This is not paw-shaped.
In fact, it’s kind of...fork-shaped.
Definitely not a mammal.
Do you remember what kind of animal makes fork-shaped tracks?
A bird!
I guess this is a bird track.
It is!
OK, last track.
Ready?
Not paw-shaped.
But not fork-shaped, either.
Sort of … horn-shaped?
And it’s split into two halves.
...a deer!
These are deer tracks!
Great job!
Like I said, these are some of the more common tracks you might find in the mud, snow, or
dirt, no matter where you live in the world.
But there all kinds of animals in the world, and each leaves its own special kind of track.
So, if you study them enough, one day, you might be able to tell the difference between
two different kinds of birds, or two different kinds of cats -- just like some scientists
can!
And we didn’t even get to cover reptile tracks or insect tracks.
So maybe we’ll get to those another time --- on the next muddy day!
In the meantime, thanks for playing Animal Track Detective with us!
And remember, if you have a question about tracks or anything for us here at the fort,
let us know by leaving a comment or emailing us at kids@thescishow.com.
We'll see you next time!