MAMMALS OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 



103 



Vhoto by Anderson 



White-footed mouse tracks. Note center track 

 where it dragged one foot. 



many hours of searching during a num- 

 ber of seasons. 



4. Always examine a muddy place for 

 tracks, but if mud is soft, tracks larger 

 than average, maybe huge. Wet, sandy 

 beach good tracking too. If track in snow 

 is old, it will melt out to a larger size; 

 wildcat's print becoming the size of that 

 of mountain lion. In many of our pic- 

 tures of casts, a six-inch lead pencil has 

 been added to aid in judging the size of 

 tracks. 



5. Remember to practice when you 

 go back home. The dog provides a 

 primer for trailing a coyote; the house 

 cat for a wildcat. Mrs. Hood's hobby 



of making plaster casts is intriguing; 

 consult the public library, practice on 

 domestic animal tracks. 



6. Scats, or droppings, tell much about 

 mammals. Tdea not revolting, if you 

 take a common sense approach, particu- 

 larly in the Sierra, where normally dry 

 climate causes scats soon to become des- 

 sicated and innocuous. Many times you 

 can tell at a glance something interest- 

 ing about an animal's food habits. Iden- 

 tification cannot be discussed here. Con- 

 sult the old master, Seton. 



7. Watch for tracks, scats and other 

 signs at likely natural shelters, such as 

 under rocks, holes in the earth or trees. 

 Sometimes a few hairs attached where 

 rubbed off the owner, as it used entrance. 



8. Kitchen middens, or piles of refuse 

 left after mammal has dined, will give 

 clue to presence of certain species and 

 their food habits, as will food stores, such 

 as cones laid up alongside log by chick- 

 arees. 



9. If you are a camper, smooth out 

 a dusty spot near your camp before you 

 go to bed; sprinkle it, if you wish. Then 

 look the next morning to see "who" 

 has been around. If it looks as though 

 a man had walked past barefooted, Lady, 

 that was a bear! 



t 



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From "Mammals of Lake Tahoe" by Robert T. Orr. Courtesy of publisher, California Academy of Sciences. 



