Guess who?The answer will be posted at the bottom of this post on Monday evening.
Location: north of the arctic circle on the sandy edge of the Yukon River, Alaska in summer.
Hint: these tracks are both made by the same animal. It's an animal that has a representative species on in North & South America, Europe, Asia, & Africa.
Edited to add: Goodness! What was I thinking??? Of course, Chuck, they do not exist on the continent of Australia any more then they do on Antartica. I'm going to blame it on a late night...how embarassing!! Also, for those of you thinking bear, I add an additional hint that these footprints are only slightly bigger then those of a domestic house cat.
RESULTS: Congratulations to Froghair, Doris Rose, and Vicious W on guessing correctly! It is indeed the North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum). The broom like markings that Jen noticed is the dragging of the quills. Did you know that there are 27 documented species of porcupine?? I actually saw these guys (i.e. the ones who made these footprints) mating...it sounded awful. Now all I need is some sort of thing like DJ Kirkby has for the best caption for her Wordless Wednesdays; some sort of prize for the correct guessers! But your names announced here will have to do for now.
is it a black or brown bear?
ReplyDeletei'm hardly a girl of nature, but seems like that critter is dragging a foot. or perhaps a broom.
ReplyDeletethis is fun.
Is it a beaver?
ReplyDeleteThey live in Australia? Our only non-flying placental mammals are sea lions and dingos...
ReplyDeleteSo I'm guessing it is your field partner.
I thought exactly the same as Jen. It does seem to be dragging its feet. A teenager maybe?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Liv and Hele and will guess it's a bear. I have no idea whether there are black/brown bears in Australia, but they have koala bears...does that count as their representative species?
ReplyDeleteI think it's a bear too. But i need to make a plaster cast and then study it.
ReplyDeleteno clue. maybe a porcupine?? or some wee beastie wearin' a skirt!
ReplyDeleteNot giving it away yet...how close or how far any of you may be, but jen's observation is KEY in identifing this animal.
ReplyDeleteporcupine?
ReplyDeleteIt has a bird like quality to its gait....
ReplyDeleteBeaver? Fox? Nah, its a Beaver! What fun, more please.
ReplyDeleteMarmot?
ReplyDeleteI'm joining doris and froghair and going with porcupine. With a fair amount of confidence, so I'll be embarassed if I turn out to be incorrect, but I'm fairly certain.
ReplyDeletesasquatch. clearly a sasquatch.
ReplyDeleteWe have echidnas. Which are kinda like egg-laying pint-sized porcupines with stubby spines.
ReplyDeleteI'm very excited, I was right! that never happens, I must be a naturalist or something. Must admit that my canines have an intimate memory of meeting a porkey once--not a pleasant memory, either.
ReplyDeletechuck, Yes, you do, cute buggers echidnas are...but they still don't count as porcupine family.
ReplyDeletedoris rose, YAY! (on getting it right, not on the canine encounter)