by Carl Strang
Sometimes we encounter odd tracks that fall outside the regular gait patterns. This is a sign that something interesting was going on, but what? Here’s an example.
A cottontail was moving over snow. Its gait is the typical slow gallop, with two complete sets of footprints showing here. But in between those sets is something odd.
There is a clear front footprint in the upper right corner. Connecting it to the complete set is a drag mark with toes showing. The drag mark points back toward the right front foot. It appears that the rabbit lifted that foot only, brought it forward, paused with it in the air (toes dragging and marking the point of the pause), then moved it forward some more and planted it.
This is a great example of the use of role playing. If you get down and position your feet and hands to approximate the arrangement in the photo, then do what the tracks tell us the cottontail did, you will find something interesting. If you have the discipline to do that without reading further, now is the time to try it. In the meantime, here’s a photo of a cottontail to provide some space.
If you try moving as the rabbit did, you will find your head and shoulders cranking around to the left. The position of your mouth when you plant your right hand will be roughly where your nose was sniffing during the pause you made along the way. The arrow marks the spot in the next photo.
Our cottontail noticed a tasty looking green twig, sniffed it to make sure it was good, then planted its right front foot while it bit off the twig. The arrow points to the bite mark where the twig was removed.
Incidentally, this event happened years ago at Willowbrook. I used it as a conservation lesson. The rabbit ate only the one twig from that little shrub, leaving the rest. I could take kids to that shrub after working them through this tracking example and show them the shrub, which thanks to the cottontail’s forbearance had grown many additional twigs for future rabbits.
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