Tracks in the snow.

sesswhat

Some of you might recognise these tracks:

stevoman

not a fox is it? there seems to be five claws instead of four so now im thinking dog.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The spread and size suggest Mink to me. Have a look here:

http://www.surreywildlifetrust.co.uk/Default.asp?Printable=True&EntityID=%7B385E5056-3CF4-4195-B1F7-0992B1966884%7D

boneless

I was going to say otter, but mink seems closer. What was the local environment?

Connacht

I would say certainly too small to be an otter.

sesswhat

Not unlike mink tracks but these are smaller at 2.5 to 3cm long.

This picture should give it away. It shows the typical bounding gait. There is 90cm between prints marked 1 and 2 moving from left to right. You can compare the size with the rabbit tracks crossing its path (and my feet at the bottom).

The location is 5m from my front door on a site surrounded by farmland in Donegal.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

sesswhat wrote: »

Not unlike mink tracks but these are smaller at 2.5 to 3cm long.
This picture should give it away. It shows the typical bounding gait. There is 90cm between prints marked 1 and 2 moving from left to right. You can compare the size with the rabbit tracks crossing its path (and my feet at the bottom).

The location is 5m from my front door on a site surrounded by farmland in Donegal.

Firstly: Mink prints are approx 2.5cm to 3cm.

Secondly: It strikes me that you know exactly what this is and adding about the bounding gait and distance between prints now when you gave no such information at first is a bit unfair. I thought you were asking for advice not posting a quiz (while holding back on relevant detail)!

Sounds like you are suggesting Stoat but their prints are only 2.2cm front and 2.5cm hind.
:mad:

sesswhat

It is a stoat and apologies for not making it clear from the outset.

The measurements you give hold true for a muddy surface but in snow the hind tracks of a mink can be up to 4.5 to 5cm as the whole foot makes an impression.

Apologies again.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

sesswhat wrote: »

It is a stoat and apologies for not making it clear from the outset.

The measurements you give hold true for a muddy surface but in snow the hind tracks of a mink can be up to 4.5 to 5cm as the whole foot makes an impression.

Apologies again.

I have made a study of this over the years, as have collegues, and you cannot make such a bold or bland statement on the size of tracks of any animnal on Snow. It depends on the type of snow, the temperature or degree of thaw. The depth of snow etc etc.
A mink on dry compacted snow below 2 degrees will be the standard 2.5cm.

You're a chancer:D

sesswhat

Carmen Abundant Xenophobia wrote: »

I have made a study of this over the years, as have collegues, and you cannot make such a bold or bland statement on the size of tracks of any animnal on Snow. It depends on the type of snow, the temperature or degree of thaw. The depth of snow etc etc.

Exactly.

These look like quite bold statements when referring to length of tracks in snow:

Carmen Abundant Xenophobia wrote: »

Firstly: Mink prints are approx 2.5cm to 3cm.

Sounds like you are suggesting Stoat but their prints are only 2.2cm front and 2.5cm hind.

Carmen Abundant Xenophobia wrote: »

A mink on dry compacted snow below 2 degrees will be the standard 2.5cm.

This simply states the actual measurements of the tracks in question in the photograph.

sesswhat wrote: »

Not unlike mink tracks but these are smaller at 2.5 to 3cm long.

This one acknowledges the variation possible in snow by saying 'can be up to':

sesswhat wrote: »

in snow the hind tracks of a mink can be up to 4.5 to 5cm as the whole foot makes an impression.

Just look at the first photograph again. All the tracks are clearly elongated, longer than they are wide. The right front track is well defined. All tracks were measured at under 3 cm long as already stated, making this track under 2 cm wide. This makes it quite small even for a stoat, but then they can be smaller in this part of the country.

I would expect a well-defined mink track, with all five claws showing, to be at least 2.5 cm wide. In most circumstances, they would also be about the same length. My point is that when you find elongated tracks in the snow, like the tracks of this stoat, they can be much longer than this.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

And my point was that you didn't give any size or pattern in the opening piece.

The measurements I quote for snow at 2 degrees is well researched - but look it doesn't really matter. You know what they are and had the value of seeing the full track as opposed to the shot of two front prints we had. It's not that critical in life what size the prints are; I was simply clarifying the point that the size in snow depends on many factors including, compactedness, degree of thaw etc.