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Photo 54H
The snowshoe hare usually travels in a predictable hopping gait
common to rabbits and rodents, in which, after a long jump propelled
by the hind feet, the front feet land, and the hind feet wrap around
the front legs and land forward of the front tracks. Hares prefer to
have their front feet offset, leaving a group print in a classic “Y”
shape.
The tracks in this quiz were quite rare, as the shallow, slushy show
allowed many fine details to register as dark gray, in sharp
contrast to the white snow. The hare is so light that in most
substrates the track micro-details do not register - the tracks just
show as featureless impressions and can typically only be identified
by the gait.Being a master of camouflage, the snowshoe hare is
also a master of disguise – with its large hind feet and small front
feet, under certain conditions its tracks can appear similar to
various animals such as coyote, dog, bobcat, beaver, otter, weasel,
marten and fisher.
Hope you all get out and do some tracking soon.
Cheers,
BRIAN |
