Nature detectives: Know Your Tracks, Scat, & Facts!

Have you ever been a nature detective?  When we go hiking, we like to look for animal signs.  We look for animal tracks, animal scat, and try to remember our animal facts.

As an example, I remember walking in the woods with Mom and Dad when I was very young.  We saw animal tracks that were small and pointed, almost like deer tracks.  We saw lots of acorns on the ground.  We saw places where animals had dug and wallowed in the dirt.  

Mom was thinking hard.  She was trying to put all the clues together.  Suddenly, she turned to Dad and said, "We've got to get out of here!"

She was a good detective.  She saw the animal tracks and knew that they were too small to be a deer.  She saw the acorns and thought about the animals that liked to eat them.  Then she tried to remember what animals dig and wallow in the dirt.  

It was a javelina!  Javelinas can be very dangerous.  They have long tusks that can rip a dog into pieces.  

Then we heard a javelina snorting at us from a distance.  We all stopped to listen.  We heard other noises.  It was a mother javelina, and she had babies!  Any mother is extra dangerous when she has babies!

Javelina

Thankfully, they had me on my leash.  Mom and Dad quickly led me far away from the javelinas.  We were safe but it took a good nature detective to know that we were in danger in the first place!

Do you know your animal tracks?  It can be fun to look for animal when you go hiking.  Some people can identify animals by their tracks.  Some people can even identify an animal's scat (their poop).  I just smell them and know!  :)

It is not only fun to know your animal tracks.  It is smart to know your animal tracts!

If you would like more information on learning about animal tracks and their scat, just click on one of these websites:  

• http://www.tahoma.wednet.edu/subsite/ths/teachers/szkweb2004/apweb2005/envirothon/pdfs/Track1.pdf
• http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_lf_k0700_0001.pdf
• http://ajefferies.myclassupdates.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/wildlife.pdf
• http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Kids/Wildtimes_issues/Wildtimes_issue18.pdf

For information on wildlife viewing, check out these sites:  http://wildlife.state.co.us/SiteCollectionDocuments/DOW/Education/pdf/Viewing/WildlifeViewingTips.pdf

• http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Kids/Wildtimes_issues/Wildtimes_issue4.pdf

Here's a fun activity that shows you how to make plaster casts of your animal prints:  http://education.usgs.gov/kids/assets/tracks.pdf 

If you want to read a great book about animal tracks, check this book out of your local library:  Big Tracks, Little Tracks:  Following Animal Prints by Millicent Ellis Selsam