Happy New Year and welcome back to my Wildlife Tracks & Sign series. Each week for the next few months, we’ll look at how to identify tracks, scat, and other sign from most of PEI’s wild mammals, along with a few birds. First up is the topic of the vast majority of tracking questions I get: how to identify Fox, Coyote, and Dog tracks. My regular followers have seen these images before, but it’s worth refreshing this one annually.
I think of track identification a bit like reading a crime scene. It can be tempting to conclude that Colonel Mustard did it in the study with the candlestick from just one or two clues, but further examination often reveals something completely different. It’s important to look at all the clues in the track, from multiple tracks if you have them. I find it useful to ask myself not only what is this track? but also why is it that?, paying attention to the clues that do – and don’t – fit.
Canine tracks are easy to identify to group, and there’s two key features to look for. First, they have four toes. That may seem simple, but Canines sometimes put their hind foot in the track left by the front foot, leaving overlapping tracks that can look like they have five (or more!) toes. Additionally, tracks from five-toed critters can sometimes look like they have only four toes if the ‘thumb’ or ‘pinky’ don’t leave clear imprints. This is where looking at multiple tracks along the trail helps.
If you’re sure your track shows four toes, congratulations – you’ve narrowed your suspect pool considerably! Among PEI mammals, that leaves only Canines, Felines, and the hind feet of Snowshoe Hare as options. You can now move on to the second feature, called ‘negative space’. This is the area between the imprints left by the pads of the foot, and in Canines it will form an X. A four-toed track with an X-shaped negative space is Canine. (Ignore myths such as Canine tracks show claws and Feline tracks don’t: this is more dependant on gait and substrate than species, and I’ll have more on this when we look at Feline tracks next week).
While identifying a track as Canine is relatively easy, telling which Canine can be more challenging. Red Fox tracks (Photo 1) are usually the easiest, with their smaller size, rounder shape, and straight edges to the palm pad (the pad on the ‘palm’ of the foot rather than on a toe). Coyote tracks (Photo 2) are larger, oval, and have curved edges to the palm pads. Photo 3 shows a Red Fox and Coyote track side-by-side to highlight the differences.
Domestic Dog tracks (Photo 4) can be the most challenging. I’ve seen Dog tracks that could be easily mistaken for Coyote tracks and others that looked very Cat-like. With Dog tracks, I look for the spread of the toes and size of the toe and palm pads; domestic Canine feet usually splay more than those of wild Canines. Photo 5 (by Chase Lawrence Muir, used with permission) shows a nice side-by-side example of Coyote and Domestic Dog.
The tracks I’ve chosen for illustration are close to perfect, with all the important features visible. More often, the tracks you find will be partially drifted in, melted out, or otherwise obscured. In those cases, looking at the combination of features that you can see, as well as other clues such as gait and the substrate, is especially important.
Reading wildlife tracks and sign is a great way to get to know your neighbours of other species. If you’re interested in learning more, check out my Zoom workshop coming up on January 21, 2025 (details here: https://www.pei-untamed.com/event-details-registration/wildlife-tracks-sign-zoom-workshop). In the meantime, you can learn a new track here each week as we explore PEI untamed!