How to Track Raccoons

Video Transcript

Hi! We are Nick and Valerie Wisniewski on behalf of expertvillage.com. We are here to talk about animal’s tracks. For more information, you can visit our website at walnuthilltracking.com. Here on the ground in front of us we have a set of wild animal tracks. These tracks are of the common raccoon, procyon lotor, which is in the carnivore is the only representative of its family in our area of the country. The raccoon is very interesting because its tracks can often into those of many others including cats and fishers for example. We often call the raccoon the trickster of the north for that reason. Its track can often be mistaken for other animals but there are certain features and characteristics of its track and its trail that if you to look for, you can easily identify. Here on the left hand side we have a hind foot and right next to it on the right is a front foot. If you look at the front foot you will notice that the toes are very finger like. That is a characteristic of the raccoon. Its toes on its front foot are very much like fingers; at handling things. The hind foot on the other hand tends to have much more toe life than finger life appendages. Both of these tracks show nice clear nails. Another thing to look for on raccoon tracks is the shape of the palm pad on both the hind and the front; the palm pad is c-shaped. The hind foot here is a good example of how the raccoon walks or flat footed. On a hind foot the heel shows up, whereas on the front the heel very rarely shows up. Moving ahead to the next set of traps we can see something very unique about the raccoon. The way it moves is very diagnostic. Biologists tell us that the raccoon actually does a pace which is very unusual in the animal kingdom. What happens here is the hind foot will switch sides so very quickly you can see that there is a large track on the left and then a large track on the right and then in the next set it switches again to the other side. This is a key to identifying raccoon tracks.

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