AY Honors/Animal Tracking/Answer Key/uk

Следы животных

Уровень сложности

1

Рік

1976

Version

06.11.2025

Орган затвердження

Північноамериканський Дивізіон

1

Знать десять видов следов животных, в том числе два вида следов птиц. Сделайте слепки с пяти следов.

2

Назовите как минимум три вещи, о которых вас информируют следы.

3

Найдите следы животного и некоторое время идите по ним, если возможно, и расскажите, как передвигалось животное: шло или бежало. Измерьте разницу в следах животного, когда оно бежало и шло.

4

Понаблюдайте за тропой животного 3 дня, выполнив при этом следующее:

4a

Выберите ровное открытое место недалеко от вашего дома или лагеря.

4b

Выровняйте землю, полейте ее или посыпьте песком.

For dirt, it helps if you can sift it onto a flat surface and then lightly wet it. If your garden hose has a "mist" setting, use that after sifting the dirt onto a flat surface.

4c

Положите приманку.

4d

Проверяйте это место, в поисках следов и подкладывая приманке в случае необходимости.

When camping, remember to store your food in a place where the animals cannot get to it. Seal it tightly and place it out of the reach of raccoons and bears (both of which are very clever at getting food). Under no circumstances should you store food in a tent - especially in one that people will be sleeping in. A tent poses no barrier to a hungry skunk.

The morning is the best time to check for tracks. Most forest creatures are nocturnal, so in the morning the tracks will be freshest. Also, human visitors are less likely to trample the tracks before you get a chance to observe and if necessary, cast them.

If you wish to photograph your tracks, it's best to do that in the early morning when the sunlight comes in at an angle. If you wait until the sun is high overhead, the track will not cast a shadow and it will be difficult to see. Turn off your camera's flash or it will completely wash out the shadows and the track will not show up in the photo. If you want to experiment with artificial light, use a flashlight to illuminate the track from the side. Place a coin or a ruler (for scale) next to the track before taking the picture. Take lots of photos (digital cameras are great for this) and hope that at least one of them turns out. It takes a lot of practice!

5

Назовите два животных для каждой из следующих групп, у которых следы:

5a

Плоские

5b

Косолапые

5c

Следы с когтями

5d

Вытянутые стопы

6

Назовите четыре отметины (помимо следов лап), которые могут быть оставлены млекопитающими.

Animals leave many indications that they were present. These are collectively called sign. Sign includes:

Tracks

Not only footprints, but marks left on the ground by the tail or by other body parts. Beavers, muskrats, mice, and rats all leave tail marks on the ground.

Scat

Scat is another word for animal droppings or manure.

Fur and antlers

Animals may leave bits of fur behind if it gets caught in a tree's bark, or in thorns. In the fall deer drop antlers.

Cuttings

Cuttings are things such as acorn shells which have been nibbled on. Deer and squirrel often leave them behind.

Scratches on trees

Bears, members of the cat family, and other predators will sharpen their claws on tree trunks. Sometimes they will do this to mark their territory. Porcupines will eat the bark all the way around the trunk of a conifer, often killing it.

Damage to trees

beavers especially, but also other animals will damage trees by breaking branches, chewing twigs, and gnawing bark.

Scent Posts

Many animals mark their territory by urinating on trees or other prominent items. If you are walking through the woods and smell a strong musky odor, look around — you may find other sign.

Carcasses

Once a predator has had its fill of a kill, it will leave the carcass. Some animals will guard their carcasses though so they can feed on them again after they've digested some of the previous meal, so be careful if you find one.

7

Какая разница между следами зайца и белки, а также между следами собачьего и кошачьего семейств.

Rabbit vs Squirrel Tracks

Rabbits leave a distinctive pattern when they bound along. The front feet are thrown between the hind feet, but one of them is almost invariably thrown farther back, and the two forefeet often print one behind the other (though sometimes they print side-by-side). A rabbit's hind feet leave larger oval-shaped prints about the size of a man's thumbprint. Since they use the hind feet rather than their forefeet to leap forward, they will push out some material behind them. It may be difficult to make out individual toes in a rabbit print.

Squirrels are also bounders, and like the rabbit, they throw both forefeet between their hind feet. But unlike the rabbit, the squirrel's forefeet generally print side-by-side. The hind feet should print five toes (four finger-like and one thumb-like) and no claws. The forefeet should print only four toes.

In general, a rabbit's pads are shaped like an oval while a squirrel's pads are shaped like a human hand.

If you're lucky enough to find a large set of tracks in the snow, and they lead to the base of a tree, it is almost certainly a squirrel, as rabbits cannot climb trees. The only way a rabbit could leave such a trail is if it had been abducted by aliens (or by an owl!)

Dog vs Cat Tracks

Unlike dogs, cats can retract their claws, and they do so when walking. Therefore, you should expect to find claw marks present in dog tracks, but absent in cat tracks. In general dogs tracks are larger than cat tracks, but you cannot rely on this alone, as there are some very small dogs and some very large cats.

8

Назовите две группы животных (млекопитающие, птицы, насекомые и т.д.), которые оставляют отпечатки лап или отметины с запахом, по которым может следовать другое животное этого же вида.

Some species of mammal and some species of insect leave scent trails to communicate with others of their species. Canines, cats, deer, moose, alpaca and llama, and others will mark their territory with urine.

Ants lay down pheromone trails that lead to food sources. If you have ever seen a column of ants scurrying about in single file, you can be sure they are following a scent trail.

9

Назовите 2 птицы, для которых характерны:

9a

Прыгающие следы

Most perching birds (passerines) hop, though many can both hop and walk (such as ravens, blackbirds, and robins). Jays, sparrows, cardinals, titmice, nuthatches, finches, and many others hop. The tracks of hopping birds often print side-by-side as they tend to keep their feet together as they hop.

9b

Гуляющие следы

Walking birds include crows, most waterfowl and shore birds (sandpipers, egrets, herons, etc.), and most game birds (wild turkeys, geese, ducks, grouse, doves, pigeons, etc.). The tracks of walking birds typically alternate left to right as they lift their feet one at a time.

10

Назовите, помимо следов, 2 другие отметины, указывающие на то, что здесь побывала птица.

• Feathers
• Droppings
• Nests
• Birdsongs (if you can hear them, they must be present!)
• Eggs or eggshells
• Pellets: Birds of prey regurgitate the indigestible portions of their meals. Birds have no teeth so they rip their prey apart with their beaks and swallow large chunks at a time. Then they digest the soft portions (such as meat) leaving the hair and bones behind to collect into pellets. They cough up these pellets which can be found by the astute observer.

11

Определите 2 птицы по оставленным перьям.

• 

  Northern Flicker: Like many woodpeckers, the flicker's flight is undulating. The repeated cycle of a quick succession of flaps followed by a pause creates an effect comparable to a rollercoaster.

• 

  Hummingbird: During hovering, ruby-throated hummingbird wings beat 55 times per second, 61 times per second when moving backwards, and at least 75 times per second when moving forward.

Canadian geese can be identified from a great distance by their distinctive V formation.

12

В вашей местности, найдите следы одного или более следующих животных:

12a

Жаба или лягушка

b. Змея

c. Черепаха

12d

Моллюск

12e

Земляной червь

12f

Крот

Список літератури