Woke up the other day to these wonderful tracks outside the house. A skunk, no doubt looking for a mate, galloped down the path from the driveway past the basement door. I can tell its a lope because to start with the track pattern is in a broken rhythm, there is a space between each set of four. The next thing to look for is where the front and hind feet fall in relation to each other. Above the tracks of the hind feet both land past the tracks of the front feet. In the below photo one hind foot does not land past both front feet but beside it. That is a lope.
What does it matter? Well it is reflection of how the animal is moving and possibly its state of urgency. Often in tracking information can be hard to come by and any more of it is welcome.
March 9 we are leading a free tracking walk at White Memorial Nature Center in Litchfield CT. Come learn more about tracking with us.
