Our naturalists don’t hibernate during the winter and have spotted some pretty clear creature tracks in the snow.
When you’re investigating snow on your own, try these winter tracking tips.
We invite you to test your wildlife identification skills!
So tell us, snow detectives: who left these footprints?
Well, #SnowDetectives: It’s time to think outside the box. What winter critter left this long skid mark?
Yeah! This is…
…to OTTERBelly slides!
These tracks are a familiar sight to many of our naturalists. Can you identify them?
Yeah! These are…
…WHITE-FOOT HARE fingerprints!
Snowshoe hares are secretive, nocturnal, and well camouflaged. Surprisingly, their summer brown fur changes to white during the winter. It’s hard to see a white hare against the snow, but its distinctive tracks give it away clearly!
How about these Algonquin Provincial Park trails?
You’re right, detectives! Those are the traces of…
…a Frilled Grouse!
Seen in Bronte Creek Provincial Park:
Although they were found near a known opossum burrow, our naturalists believe they are actually…
RACCOON Clues!
A great tip for identifying raccoon tracks? Look for long toes on the front paw (not a dog/canid print), a larger/longer hind paw print just behind and offset from the front paw.
Additionally, raccoons have a unique gait when traveling and searching for food. This gait results in a pattern in which the front and rear tracks from opposite sides of the body appear side by side (as in the first photo).