Who's Been Walking on My Porch?

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I'm having trouble identifying these tracks:



Does anyone recognize them? (The boards are 2-by-8s, and the prints are about 10 inches apart.)

Comments

  1. Anonymous8:58 PM

    Racoon would be my guess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gcallah9:35 PM

      Yeah, I've got an Audubon nature guide with a bunch of images of footprints in it, and raccoon was pretty much the closest fit. The problem is that the guide shows raccoons as having pairs of feet distinctly different in size, but the many pairs of prints on my porch don't show any difference in size at all. So I am puzzled.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:46 PM

      Cats have similar size rear/front paws and often have varying patterns of walk depending upon the situation. It's certainly a clawed or long-nailed animal.

      Delete
    3. gcallah10:40 PM

      I looked at bobcat as well as a serious contender, but my guide doesn't show their feet as hopping along evenly in that fashion. What about my porch would have caused a cat to hop so?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous1:05 AM

    Cats claws do not leave marks, as they are "retractable" and do not touch the ground in normal walking.

    Cat's tracks will have only four visible toes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:36 PM

      Yes, I understand that. I cannot see any claw marks in the picture, I made that statement based on the shape of the paws. The paws have a hand-like shape to them, which is why I thought it was a raccoon at first. I ruled out cat when I took a closer look and saw that there are 5 toes. Coyote, rabbit, and fox can also be ruled out.

      Delete

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