Rat tracks in the snow - how to determine the beginning of the seizure of territory by rodents. Rat tracks in the snow

General characteristics of the animal

The owner of beautiful and valuable fur, the lynx is one of the predatory mammals that live in the vast territory of the Northern Hemisphere of the planet.
Currently, in most countries it is protected, due to which the population of the predator is increasing. For many years, the animal has remained the object of close attention of wildlife lovers. The lynx has a body of average length 110-125 cm, weight 20-30 kg, and high limbs. The fur color of a predator is diverse, varying depending on its subspecies and habitat. The lynx feeds on hares, young ungulates, and black grouse. Leads a sedentary, secretive lifestyle, prefers to avoid meeting people. The enemies of the wild cat are wolverines and wolves. Lynx offspring in the amount of 2-3 kittens appear in the spring and remain under the care of the mother throughout the year.

Rats' habitat is vast

Rats thrive in most environments where food and shelter are available. Norway rats can be found in homes, warehouses, office buildings, sheds, basements, sewers, landfills and other places that provide ample food. They dig holes in the ground for shelter, nesting and food storage. Burrows usually start next to buildings, fences, or other cover. Black rats do not usually dig burrows; they are found above ground level: in trees, rocks, attics, upper levels of warehouses, wall cavities and roofs.

Reproduction and offspring

Rats, regardless of species, reproduce at a very high rate. This is also due to the fact that they quickly reach puberty. Females bear their offspring over short periods of time. A sexually mature female can mate every 5 days, with the exception of the period of pregnancy.

Within 1 year, each adult female gives birth to up to 4 dozen rat pups, while pregnancy lasts about 3 weeks. Having reached the age of one and a half years, females are approaching the period of menopause, which at the initial stage appears irregularly, and then the female is no longer able to reproduce.

Before the end of the pregnancy period, the female tidies up her nest. She lines the bottom of the nest with soft grass. Sometimes the female digs a new hole, after which she takes care of its arrangement. Often in this nest the female contains food reserves, thanks to which she can stay with the newborns for a long time without any problems.

Depending on the species, female rodents can reproduce from 8 to 15 young at a time. Rats are born naked, blind and deaf, with completely closed ear canals, and without a well-functioning thermoregulation system.

After birth, they are not able to independently remove processed components. Therefore, the female constantly licks her stomach with it, as if giving a massage, which helps to activate metabolic processes. The cubs feed on mother's milk, the fat content of which reaches 9 percent. Unfortunately, rats are capable of destroying their offspring, and males are more prone to this. As for females, they can eat dead cubs or very weak ones.

After some time, fur appears on the body of the rat pups, and after a week they begin to see and hear. On the ninth day, the first incisors erupt in the juveniles. After 3 weeks, the young offspring independently explore the nearby territory, and after another week they are ready for independent life. They become fully mature by the age of one year.

Dental system

Rat teeth have their own characteristics. These animals have only two types of teeth : molars (3 teeth on each side of the jaw, 12 in total) and incisors (4 in total, a pair at the bottom and at the top).

Molars are located far away, their purpose is to grind food by chewing, so they are flat and wide. In rat pups, these teeth erupt from the 19th day of life, first molars of the first type appear, then the second. Third molars emerge at 40 days of age.

The incisors of these animals grow throughout their lives ; with them, the animals are excellent at chewing even very hard objects. These teeth take 50 days to fully grow. The incisors are yellow in color, the enamel on them is very strong (5.5 Mohs units, it is equal to the hardness of steel). During chewing, the incisors can move apart ; this process is regulated by the animal itself.

Determining the direction of movement

To understand in which direction the animal is moving, it is necessary to pay attention to a number of features - the positioning of the predator’s limbs, dragging, dragging, the front and rear walls of the track depression. A distinct foot print will not make it difficult to determine the direction of movement. A distinct footprint will make it easy to determine the direction of movement.

A distinct foot print will not make it difficult to determine the direction of movement.

If the impression is illegible, the embossing is examined - the groove that appears when the limbs are removed from the trace fossa, and the front steep wall of the recess itself. Trails along lynx tracks are formed when the animal moves through deep, loose snow and when descending from slopes and mountains.

If the snow cover is shallow or the animal’s movements are wary, it is worth inspecting the top of the front wall of the hole. When the paw is removed, it becomes compacted and deformed, while the back one remains undistorted and flatter.

At the stage of lowering the limb into the snowdrift, a furrow is formed, which widens at the moment the step is completed. This furrow is called a drag. The drag is longer than the drag, the descent of the back wall of the trail hole is sloping, the snow along the edges of the line is squeezed out. The drag indicates the opposite direction of the wild cat's movement.

To detect a lynx, experienced trackers, along with the paw prints of the animal, simultaneously study other signs of its vital activity - beds, excrement, the remains of a meal thrown or sprinkled with leaves or earth, claw marks on tree trunks and branches.

Shrew

The shrew is a representative of insectivores. Outwardly it resembles an ordinary mouse, but has an elongated nose in the form of a proboscis for catching insects underground. The body size is much smaller than that of a mouse. A rare individual can boast a length of 10 cm including a tail, which can be very short and, conversely, too long compared to the size of the body. Shrews' markings on snowy surfaces are characterized by short, round imprints. Even in loose snow, animals do not sink deeply, and the depression remains ungreased.

PART 1 TRACES ON THE SNOW TRAIL

TRACES OF SMALL ANIMALS (mole, mice, voles, water rat, muskrat, shrews)

When the first snow covers the yellowed sedge and blackberry bushes, and the stream, which has not yet frozen, appears even deeper, even bluer among the brightened banks, then, like lace, patterned traces of animal “small animals” will stretch across the young snow.

Those that were hiding among the hummocks of the sedge bog, in willows and weeds, in sheaves, under haystacks, in dungeons, will make their existence known, showing how they run, jump and eat food.

But a week or two will pass, the cold will come - and life will freeze for the whole winter, disappearing under the snow. And you will no longer see the subtle pattern of footprints on the clean sparkling surface of the snowdrifts. Only closer to spring, when the sun “turns to summer” and begins to warm up, will small tracks of shrews, voles and mice appear in the snow again.

Mole

From a distance a long row of small piles of earth appears black in the snow. This is a mole, before the soil freezes, in a hurry to carry out another gallery. Here he stepped out into the snow and left a small straight path. A deep furrow stretches from burrow to burrow, and in it, at intervals of 1 cm, prints of the hind legs are visible. The front, digging paws provide little assistance in walking and leave only faint markings.

Rice. 98. Mole tracks on loose shallow snow (e.v.) Outskirts of Moscow, October

Please note that the length of the step only sometimes exceeds the distance between the prints of the left and right paws. These are the traces of a heavy, short-legged slow-moving vehicle falling deep into the snow.

It is not for nothing that the mole is afraid of long walks: he dragged himself 5 m and again disappeared into the dungeon for a long time. Unless, during a strong thaw, he decides to appear in the snow again to make another similar furrow.

But how free is he to dig under the snow in the fallen carpet of leaves and thick grass, where earthworms, slugs and insects have gathered for the winter! Neither owls, nor buzzards, nor foxes are now afraid of the mole; under the protection of snowdrifts, all winter long it expands and lengthens the complex network of hunting passages, “mining” the thickness of the snow in all directions.

Mice

And here are the traces of a light-footed horse. Its jumps are up to half a meter long, and its paw prints are collected in trapezoids, just like a squirrel’s; behind each group there is a thin line of a rather long tail. Back and forth, back and forth, a web of trails stretched across the clearing countless times. Here is the burrow of a field mouse - a granary, and there, beyond the clearing, are thickets of burdock, bent low under the weight of damp snow. Oily burdock seeds are good, but gnawing them out there in the open is too dangerous - there are a lot of mouse enemies wandering and flying around. The animal had to work hard and drag all the supplies closer to the “home”.

Rice. 99. Traces of jumping of a field mouse, falling heavily into the snow (e.v.) Neighborhood of Kislovodsk

A little further on, even smaller footprints were left by a tiny mouse. Later, in winter, you won’t see a trace of her anywhere. The tiny animal will climb somewhere into dense thickets, tightly buried by snowdrifts, or into the fragrant thickness of grain stacks.

Footprints of other members of the genus

Traces of small rodents can be confused with those of rats by inexperienced trackers, but with large animals you will have to really rack your brains. They are somewhat similar, but have characteristic differences.

Maneuverability is not typical for a small animal. They always move through the snowdrifts by jumping. Mouse tracks in the snow are clearly visible. Leaves clear marks on the front and hind legs, and a long, thin tail.

Jumping is similar to a squirrel, if not for the tail. A body imprint remains in the snowdrifts, which does not exceed 5 cm. The distance between jumps is from 5 cm to 50 cm. The mouse pushes off with its hind legs, jumps, and places them in front.

Mouse tracks in the snow

The locomotion mechanism of many species of mice resembles the gait of a rat, but the imprint of the limb is different. In a large rodent it is larger. There are no small rats in winter; baby rats appear only in spring.

Weasel

Always found where mice hunt. The weight of the animal is about 100 g. It practically does not fall into the snow and leaves superficial, light prints. The size of one paw is 1.5*1 cm. The distance between jumps is up to 35 cm. Often the front and hind limbs step into the same hole, creating deeper marks in a checkerboard pattern.

Squirrel

A large rodent moves through the soil and snow of any depth by jumping. The prints of the hind paws are larger than the front ones, amounting to 5 cm. The forelimbs with soles are up to 3 cm. The footprints have the shape of a trapezoid, sometimes merging into one large incomprehensible figure. The distance between jumps is about 50 cm.

Squirrel tracks in the snow

Traces of rodents in the snow are found on the forest edge, fields, forests, near haystacks, near straw. Black and ground rats prefer such habitats. The gray pasyuk can live in basements, garages, abandoned buildings, and sewers. This species loves to hunt near garbage cans and sneaks into barns, houses, and apartments.

If telltale evidence is found near a vehicle left unattended overnight, you should look under the hood. Animals can settle there for the night or chew on wires.

The rat is the most interesting representative of the genus. Her cunning, agility, and resourcefulness are amazing. Many interesting facts about rats prove the presence of these abilities. No less amazing footprints in the snow. Even with its gait, the animal tries to confuse a person. But by carefully studying all the habits of the rodent, you can accurately determine who has invaded the property.

Wild rats, or pasyukov, as they are also called, can hardly be called welcome guests - these rodents pose a serious danger. They raid food products and, making their way to them, chew through everything - from wood to concrete and even metal. In addition, these animals often act as distributors of infectious infections. It is difficult to protect yourself from pasyuki, but it is possible. One of the most important stages in the fight against wild rodent pests is the detection of their homes. In summer, finding enemy nests is problematic, but in winter, rat tracks left in the snow will lead to them.

Squirrel prints

The tracks of a squirrel moving in jumps can easily be confused with the prints of a beekeeper in familiar territory. You can distinguish a squirrel trail from a rat trail by the accompanying evidence - if pine cones, nuts or seeds are found along the animal’s path, then a squirrel passed here, rats are not interested in such food. Another distinctive feature is that squirrel prints are usually trapezoidal in shape, but can merge into an incomprehensible large footprint.

Rat tracks in the snow may vary from case to case. This is due to a variety of circumstances and factors. Rat tracks can be confused with paw marks left by other animals. And yet, with a careful and careful examination of the discovered prints, it is not so difficult to determine whether they belong to Pasyuk or not. The main thing is to thoroughly study the anatomical structure of the pest rodent’s paws, as well as its habits and characteristic maneuvers.

What does a hare's footprint look like?

Snow white hare

Hunting hares in powder is an exciting activity that allows you to fully reveal the hunter's abilities, observation and caution. In the hunting sense, powder is snow that has fallen since the evening or night before, on which fresh prints of an animal can be seen in the morning

Good powder is considered to be such a depth of snow that allows you to see clear imprints. In this regard, tracking hare trails is very convenient, since the hare is an animal with a predominantly nocturnal lifestyle, which moves at night to the place of feeding, to the site of a new den, leaving its tracks in the morning. In powder, hunting can be done in most cases only for hare, since in late winter the white hare hides in a deep thicket, where sometimes even an experienced hunter finds it difficult to figure out its many intricate paths. In contrast, the hare almost always leaves the forest to the edge, closer to bushes, ravines, etc.

The hare's front paws leave imprints approaching the circle, arranged in a line one after the other. The hind legs leave elongated prints, parallel or slightly extending one behind the other. The forest hare's footprints in the snow leave a rounder and wider imprint than the hare's, whose footprint is narrower and more elongated. But on less loose snow, you can notice that the hare’s hind paws are still much wider, with visible fingerprints.

To correctly determine the direction of movement of a hare, you need to remember: the tracks of a hare's hind paws always leave their imprint in front of the prints of the front paws, and not behind.

Benefits and harms

It is believed that a small gray rat is capable of leaving a sixth of the world’s population without food (photos of rodents are presented in the article). An adult needs only 20 g of food per day, but over the course of a year this figure increases to 10-12 kg. If you remember that there are now almost 18 billion rats on the planet, you can imagine how much food they eat.

Rats can infect humans with such deadly diseases as plague, Q fever, typhus, as well as non-lethal, but also very dangerous helminths, staphylococci and streptococci.

These animals spoil things, furniture, leave houses and even entire villages without electricity, gnawing through electrical wiring.

And yet they bring us benefits that are difficult to overestimate. Geneticists have found that the genes of humans and gray rats have more in common than those of humans and monkeys. This makes it possible to carry out highly complex genetic research, which is also facilitated by the incredibly fast reproduction of rodents. Scientists are testing new medications on them, studying many deadly diseases in order to understand how to treat us humans. Therefore, rats deserve not only hatred, but also respect.

Dream Interpretation – Mice

Seeing mice running around the apartment in a dream foreshadows an invitation to a wedding. Chasing mice is a sign of matchmaking. Killing a mouse foreshadows a sad event in the family. Seeing mice climbing onto the table and eating everything that is there is a sign of prosperity and well-being in your home. A white mouse in a dream means strong family ties. Hearing the squeaking of mice or how they scratch nearby in the dark means you are in danger of being robbed or robbed. A lot of mice in the basement portends difficult times financially. Seeing a mouse standing on its hind legs means you will be able to accomplish all your plans. Pick up a mouse - a young rival will cross your path. A mouse that bites you is a sign of revenge and betrayal in love. If you set a mousetrap in a dream, it means that in reality you will expose the secret intentions of your enemies. If a mouse gets caught in it, the property will have to be divided in court. Seeing a cat with a mouse in its teeth means you will receive the necessary support from your friends in time. A mouse running away from a cat means you will witness a scandal in the family of your friends. Seeing a bat hanging upside down in a dream means problems at home, discord in business and losses. Bats flying above you with a thin squeak - in reality you will find yourself in an unpleasant situation and will be falsely accused. To be frightened by a bat flying in the dark right in front of your face means you will experience disgust for a vile person.

The rats laugh, but we don't hear it

Rats make high-pitched chirping sounds (especially when tickled), but humans cannot hear them. Rats communicate at a very high frequency, above 50 kilohertz, so we unfortunately cannot hear their laughter without the help of a bat detection device. Rats especially love to be tickled on the back of their heads. When happy, they chatter or grind their teeth, accompanied by eye twitching. But they will stop laughing when conditions change, such as a bright light or the smell of an approaching cat. Research shows that primates such as bonobos and chimpanzees, dogs and dolphins can also laugh.

Rat Family Lifestyle

To understand why rats are dangerous, it is worth understanding how they live and reproduce. It is quite possible to call gray predator mammals long-lived. Let's add to this intelligence, a sense of responsibility and a family lifestyle. Rodents of this breed are divided into 64 species. But only two are capable of living next to a person and harming him - synanthropic ones: the black and white rat. They can be identified not only by color. As they say, in the dark and in a frightened state you won’t look too closely at the color. But still, the gray individual is larger than the black one, and the shape of the tail and front parts are sharply different. There are no more differences. If you buy a rat in stores yourself, you don’t have to be afraid - these two species cannot be tamed. Habitat:

dump;
trash cans and garbage chutes;
abandoned houses and drainpipes;
collectors and warehouses;
sewerage system and breeding area for poultry and animals.

Rats are the largest rodents from the mouse family, which are one of man's long-time neighbors.

If a sexually mature individual has appeared under the floor, then we can confidently say that babies will appear within six months. Moreover, the female breeds at least 7-8 babies at a time. In addition to excellent fertility, rat droppings have a 100% survival rate. On average, the lifespan of rodents reaches 10 years or more. The whole family obeys only one main rat. In their kubla (as the family’s place of residence is called), one can distinguish the main gathering place and overnight stay, a warehouse. The “pantry” contains non-perishable products. This is how rodents provide themselves with wintering.

They are distinguished by increased survival, as they perfectly sense poisons and danger. Despite their rather large size, they sneak into cracks and holes, connections between wall slabs in multi-storey apartments.

History of origin and settlement

Paleontologists have found that the gray rat species appeared in the Pleistocene, that is, approximately 2.5 million years ago. Other rodents, including mice, already existed by that time. The next ice age that began killed many of them, but gave the gray rat the opportunity to establish itself as the most progressive species. In those distant times, these animals lived only in the territory of modern China.

From the south and east their habitat was limited by seas and oceans, from the west by insurmountable mountains, and from the north by a glacier. When it began to melt, the rats moved to new lands. Colonization proceeded unusually slowly. For more than 13 thousand years, they only reached the present-day Transbaikalia, where to this day they live well in natural conditions. Rats were encouraged to spread across the planet by people who began to actively engage in trade and navigation. About 2,000 years ago, tailed stowaways entered India on ships, from there they got to Persia, and then moved to Europe, America, Africa, and Australia. Now they are not found only in places where they have absolutely nothing to eat - in Antarctica, in the Arctic and in certain areas of the desert.

What paw prints does a dog leave?

photo 2

Fox tracks in the snow are very similar to the paw prints of a small dog. The hunter must learn to recognize the “handwriting” of foxes and mongrels. The paw prints left by a fox in the snow are much slimmer and neater than dog tracks. If you look at the marks from the pads of the two front and back fingers, it becomes clear that a visual line can be drawn between them. In many dogs, the side toes wrap around the sides of the hind toes, extending forward. In photo 2 you can see the tracks of a dog and a wolf.

Sometimes the tracks of some dogs are difficult to distinguish from fox tracks. But there will be no doubt left if you carefully examine the straight chain of holes and the surprisingly even distances between them, as well as the regular curves on the front of the tracks. No dog can make such a drawing with very delicate lines. The fox has sharp claws, and the dog has worn ones.

The rat has an incredible sense of smell

They have a hypersensitive nose and are especially sensitive to unpleasant odors, which can cause respiratory distress. These small rodents have a nose with 1,207 olfactory receptor genes. They come just behind elephants (1,948 genes) but are far ahead of humans (396 genes) and dogs (811 genes).

Photo: Oxana Kuznetsova

This is likely due to the fact that rats have evolved a sense of smell to be able to sniff out hidden food sources. Rat Nose is so good that it helped clear landmines from Mozambique, and they are now clearing landmines in Cambodia, Zimbabwe and Angola. The rats themselves are too small to detonate the mines, so they are completely safe. The rats simply point out where the explosives are buried so that the mine can be safely detonated.

Determining the direction of movement

A distinct foot print will not make it difficult to determine the direction of movement.

Movement in an unfamiliar area and a familiar one - how to distinguish?

By the peculiarities of the rodent's movement, you can get ahead of who he is here: a guest or the owner. No matter how sad it may sound, but with the appearance of a rat in the house, it will begin to consider itself the master and diligently begin to survive all unwanted ones.

Thanks to different gaits, it is possible to calculate the following actions for a person:

intimidate;
destroy;
catch.

The tracks are arranged in pairs and evenly

To be convincing, we look at the second pair of legs that remain. The interval is approximately 5-8 cm. The front leg is also extended forward, possibly a mark from the seat, and the back pair also has an unevenness (one leg is extended back). Based on the width of the path left by the animal, we are completely convinced: it is similar to a thread, no deviations to the left or right, the maximum indentation in width is 2, 2.5 cm. This will depend on the size of the scout individual.

If there are jumps, the traces look like a ricochet. But the animal makes such leaps only in familiar areas. He knows that there are no special threats here. This means you can increase your movement speed.

Etymology of the name

In the scientific world, the name of the gray rat sounds like Rattus norvegicus. It appeared after a biologist from England, John Berkenhout, saw these animals in the port and wrote a description of them. He was sure that ships arrived in England only from Norway, so with a clear conscience he dubbed the species he “discovered” the Norwegian rat, although these rodents did not exist in that country at all at that time. And they arrived in Foggy Albion, most likely, from Denmark and could well have become Danish rats if Sir Berkenhout had a little better understanding of navigation. Pasyuk, or Patsyuk, is another of their names, familiar to many Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. So, what are the heroes of our article?

As usual the pasyuks walk

The anatomical structure of a rat's paws is such that when the animal takes a normal step, its markings are impossible not to recognize. The characteristic distinctive features of the Pasyuk's paws include the following:

all four limbs are five-fingered;
the fifth toe on each paw is set aside;
on the front paws there is a kind of palm, the fingers are noticeably different from each other - four are elongated, and the fifth (large) is short, reduced, reminiscent of a stump;
the plantar tubercles are clearly defined, distinct, and are noticeably shorter in length than rat feet;
the length of the soles of the hind limbs is 4 cm, but only its front half is imprinted on the snow;
The size of a Pasyuk's paw print is 2 cm2.

On known terrain

The animal's style of movement across familiar territory is similar to ricochet - movements are fast, with frequent jumps. When entering a known territory, the pasyuk has excellent orientation; it does not need to look closely and study every centimeter of the area before taking a step.

In the developed territory, the rat does not walk, but jumps. Pushing off with her hind legs, she shifts her body weight forward and then lands on her forelimbs. When landing, the pasyuk not only groups itself, but also extends its hind legs, bringing them closer to the forelimbs. Therefore, there remains only one footprint in the snow, but from all four paws, practically pressed against each other. The distance from one such mark to another is 35 cm.

Behavior and intelligence

The house mouse is the most common rodent living in human housing. Over many years of coexistence, its diet has changed significantly; the animal switched from cereals and nuts to plant and animal products that people eat. In the summer, mice can live in the fields, picking up grains, but by mid-autumn they will certainly move closer to humans and a warm home.

The intelligence of house mice is quite low, they are also not very careful, so they easily fall into even the simplest mousetraps. The population of these rodents is maintained only due to their rapid reproduction - females give birth to offspring every month, up to 100 mice per year. Their body length is 7-8 cm, in rare cases with good nutrition - up to 10 cm, weight - 25-40 grams

Thanks to such miniature sizes, the mouse is able to squeeze through even a centimeter gap

Their body length is 7-8 cm, in rare cases with good nutrition - up to 10 cm, weight - 25-40 grams. Thanks to such miniature dimensions, the mouse is able to squeeze through even a centimeter gap.

Interestingly, the colors of mice depend on the geographic location of their residence. In southern and central Russia, rodents with light silvery skin are common; in Siberia, their fur is more brown than gray. The line between colors is becoming increasingly blurred over time - animals travel on all types of transport, so sometimes you can see an animal of an unusual color.

If this rodent is caught at the scene of a crime, it will freeze, assess the situation and run away only if it sees danger. Catching a rat with your hands or throwing a blanket over it is not a good idea. They are aggressive and will fiercely defend themselves if they find themselves in a hopeless situation.

The mental abilities of large and small rodents also differ significantly. The Rat is much smarter and smarter. When kept as a pet, it becomes attached to its owner and is even able to respond to a nickname. Getting rid of these rodents is more difficult; they will never eat suspicious food or climb into a trap.

Mice live in houses much more often; thanks to their small size, it is easier for them to enter a room, hide and get the right amount of food. Rats prefer to settle in places where people visit less often: in basements, granaries, barns, chicken coops.

Mice and rats cannot coexist in the same area. When the pasyuks arrive, one part of the small rodents immediately changes their place of residence, and the other turns out to be food for their older brothers.

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War of blacks and grays

Once upon a time, black rats reigned supreme in Europe. They were known about and destroyed back in the ancient period, and in the Middle Ages they even organized teams of professional rat catchers. Despite all efforts, in the 14th century, millions of people died from a plague carried by black rats.

They are smaller than gray ones, do not like to move long distances and live in basements, preferring to live in attics and roofs. Now in cities the gray rat is replacing the black one, since it turned out to be less intelligent and weaker. If there is enough food, the grays do not bother their black brothers and crowd them out only when there is a shortage of food. In settlements remote from the sea, for example in Moscow, there are very few black rats left, but in coastal cities their numbers are huge, and on ships they still dominate.

Hare tracks in winter

Hare tracks in the snow, photo

A hare's print in the snow can look different depending on its behavior. A normal, ordinary track looks like this: large jumps with simultaneous (or almost simultaneous) extension of the hind legs, while the front ones are located sequentially one after the other. If the jump is large, then the front paws are also together. The usual trail left by a hare going to feed or returning from it to the den is called a trailing mark. In addition, other fingerprints are distinguished:

The footprint of a sitting hare looks like this: the prints of the front paws are parallel, unlike the hind paws. At the same time, its pazanka is imprinted on the snow, since the hare sits, bending its hind limbs to the first joint. Therefore, the print of a hare's hind paws in a sitting position is always longer than the prints of the animal's normal movement. With the exception of the sitting position, the rear hare's prints always remain parallel. If prints are seen in which the rear tracks are clubbed or are very ahead of each other, then they belong to another animal.
Fatty hare tracks are prints of its movement near the feeding site, with frequent sitting down on the snow. They differ in that individual tracks almost merge, while the rest are located very close to each other.
The animal leaves racing tracks when it is scared out of its lair, and it moves in large leaps. Such prints are similar to the end prints, but with the opposite direction, since the front prints are close to the hind prints of the previous jump.
When an animal tries to hide or break its trail, it looks for a place where it can lie down, and for this it leaves markings or markings. They are left with the largest jumps, which are made at an angle to the original direction. The hare usually makes such jumps from one to four, then its trail again becomes the end. Often, before the discount trail begins, double prints of a hare's paws can be seen in the snow.
The loops are the rounding of the hare's passage with the intersection of their previous imprints. The hare leaves such a trail when it begins to look for shelter. It can leave loops over a large area, which makes it difficult for a hunter to identify a hare trail. Rarely is there more than one loop, but soon it begins to double and build with one trace superimposed on another. This also creates certain difficulties, since it is necessary to distinguish a double trace from an ordinary one. After winding tracks, the hare usually throws itself off to the side, or winds around on the ground where there is little snow. The length of the double loop can reach 150 steps in one or more maliks. Making allowances to the side, the hare tries to cut off its trail, getting rid of possible pursuers, both in the form of animals and people.

Thus, the path of movement of the hare looks like this: from the den you can follow the usual gait with the end tracks to the place of feeding (fattening). At the feeding site, it leaves fatty marks with imprints of the sitting position, which after some time turn into hounds. Having had a good meal and played enough, the hare moves in search of a new place of the den using trailing tracks. This behavior does not always happen: often the hare moves from one fatty place to another, or leaves it and returns only in the morning.

Winter trail – our photos

This information will primarily be of interest to novice hunters. If you can offer better and more informative photographs, as well as add photos of winter tracks of animals that are not in this article, publish them in the appropriate section of the photo gallery (indicating the name of the animal) and leave a link here. Detailed comments are welcome

Animal tracks in the snow, photos with names

Below you will find several photographs of animal tracks in the snow, which were added by site users to the Pathfinder section of the gallery, and schematic images of tracks of a hare, wolf, fox, bear, wild boar and other animals.

Moose trail

It is difficult for an experienced hunter to confuse the tracks of an elk with the tracks of other animals. Of course, they are very similar to the hoof prints of cattle and some wild elk relatives, but they are significantly larger in size. The hooves of a male elk, even if of average build, are always larger than the hooves of the largest domestic bull. In general, the elk walks heavily and sinks deep into the loose snow, down to the ground. The stride length is usually about 80 cm. When trotting, the stride is wider - up to 150 cm, and when galloping, jumps can reach 3 meters. The width of the print, excluding the lateral toes, is about 10 cm for moose cows and 14 cm for bulls, and the length is 14 cm and 17 cm for females and males, respectively.

Photo of moose tracks in the snow added by user z.a.v.77. in 2017.

More photos of elk tracks:

hare trail

Hares leave two long hind paw prints in front and two shorter front paw prints behind them. In the snow, the length of the footprint of the front paws is about 8 cm with a width of 5 cm, and the length of the hind paws is up to 17 cm, with a width of about 8 cm. Due to their specificity, the tracks of the oblique are not difficult to determine, as is the direction of its movement. Hiding from pursuit, a hare can make jumps of up to 2 meters, and in a “calm environment” the length of the jump is about 1.2 - 1.7 meters.

A photo of hare tracks in the snow was added by Laichatnik in 2015.

More photos of hare tracks:

Fox trail

Fox tracks allow an experienced hunter to determine the nature of its movement. A fox paw print is typically about 6.5 cm long and 5 cm wide. The step length is from 30 to 40 cm. However, during a hunt or when escaping pursuit, the fox makes fairly long (up to 3 m) jumps and throws forward, to the right or left - at right angles to the direction of movement.

Photo of fox tracks in the snow added by user kubazoud in 2016.

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Bear tracks

The tracks of a brown bear are quite easy to recognize among the tracks of other animals. This heavyweight (on average his weight is about 350 kg) cannot pass through snow and mud unnoticed. The prints of the animal's front paws are about 25 cm long, up to 17 cm wide, and the hind paws are about 25-30 cm long and about 15 cm wide. The claws on the front paws are almost twice as long as those on the hind paws.

Photo of bear tracks in the snow added by user willi in 2016.

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Wolf tracks

The tracks of wolves are very similar to the paw prints of large dogs. However, there are also differences. The front toes of a wolf are more forward and are separated from the hind toes by the width of a match, while in dogs, the toes are gathered together and such a gap is no longer observed. Experienced hunters can distinguish from the scent what kind of gait the animal moved at a walk, trot, gallop or gallop.

Photo of wolf tracks in the snow added by user Sibiriak in 2014.

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Wolverine tracks

It is difficult to confuse wolverine tracks with anyone else's. The front and hind feet have five toes. The length of the front paw print is about 10 cm, the width is 7-9 cm. The hind paw is slightly smaller. The snow is often imprinted with a horseshoe-shaped metacarpal callus and a carpal callus located directly behind it. The first shortest toe of the front and hind paws may not be imprinted on the snow.

Photo of wolverine tracks in the snow added by user Tundravik in 2014.

Boar tracks

It is not difficult to distinguish the footprint of an adult wild boar from the traces of other ungulates, because in addition to the imprint of the hoof itself, a trace of stepson fingers located on the side remains on the snow or ground. It is interesting that in young piglets in the first months of life these fingers are not supporting, and therefore do not leave a mark.

Photo of wild boar tracks in the snow added by user Hanter57 in 2014.

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Roe deer trail

Based on the footprint of a roe deer, one can judge the speed of its movement. During running and jumping, the hooves move apart and, along with the front toes, the lateral toes serve as support. When the animal moves at a pace, the print looks different.

Photo of roe deer tracks in the snow added by user Albertovich in 2016.

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Lynx trail

The size of the footprint of the front paws of adult individuals is about 8 cm in length and the same in width, the hind paws are slightly smaller. The length of a measured trot stride is about 60 cm for males and 45 cm for females. The young animals have a shorter stride, but they follow their mother in single file, trying to follow the trail.

Photo of lynx tracks in the snow added by user Sasha_27 in 2012.

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Sable trail

Sable tracks in the snow are usually not clear; not every hunter can notice and recognize them. In terms of the size of the print, they are not inferior to fox tracks, and when moving with a three-legged foot ( 3 ), their character resembles that of a hare. Basically, the animal moves with a two-step step characteristic of all mustelids ( 1 ). On dense snow, the imprint can be from 7 to 10 cm in length and up to 6 cm in width. In this case, the length of the jump is on average 45-75 cm. On loose snow, paired prints most often merge into one hole ( 2 ) and the length of the jump is no more than 30 cm. However, when escaping from a chase or while hunting, a sable can jump up to 2 m.

Paw structure

Rat in winter

To learn how to recognize rodent tracks in the snow, it’s worth remembering a little zoology. The pelvic and thoracic limbs of the rat are five-fingered. But on the hand of the pectoral forepaws the thumb is reduced and looks like a short stump. Therefore, it is usually believed that a tailed animal does not have a thumb.

When examining rat tracks, one should take into account the fact of missing fingers.

The phalanges are separated by leathery membranes. There is no fur on the soles and palms. Occasionally they may be covered with sparse fluff. The limbs are strong and muscular, well developed, which allows them to gain decent speed while running and jump well.

Did you know?

All rats belong to the genus Rattus, which includes 51 species.
Rats don't sweat. They only have sweat glands on the skin of their paws, which are not sufficient for cooling. To regulate their body temperature, they constrict or dilate the blood vessels in their hairless tails.
The lifespan of a rat depends on whether it is a wild animal or a domestic animal. Rats kept in captivity can live up to 4 years. In the wild, they typically live 2-3 years. They are hunted by owls, hawks, snakes, dogs, cats and other predators.
Rats have very poor eyesight. They also suffer from color blindness.
A rat can go without water longer than a camel. Surprisingly, the kangaroo rat (genus Dipodomys) can spend its entire life in the desert without drinking water. It receives most of the moisture it needs from seeds.
A rat's heart beats 650 times a minute!
Cedar and pine oils are toxic to rats and should not be used as bedding.
Rats were among the first animal astronauts. In 1961, France launched a rocket into space with a rat on board.
Rats are clean people. Rodents, so often associated with sewers and garbage cans, are actually very clean animals. They spend several hours a day cleaning.
The Dumbo Rat is a fancy rat with large, round ears that give it a cute teddy bear appearance, making it a very popular pet.

Paws of wild rats and their prints

Pasyuki are very cunning animals, so a novice tracker should be as careful as possible. Rats are capable of:

change gait depending on various factors (snow depth, development of the territory, etc.);
adjust the step to the maneuvers of other rodents (both smaller and larger);
adjust the pressing force of the paws and, accordingly, the depth of the prints;
change step distance.

Thanks to such wide capabilities of pasyuks, their tracks are very diverse, which can confuse and confuse the hunter. However, the Pasyuk's paws themselves have several characteristic features that make it possible to distinguish rat tracks from prints left by other animals.

Imprints on a thin layer of snow

If the ground is barely covered with snow, the rat marks will be tailless. The rodent walks calmly and slowly through shallow snow. Paw prints remain paired and clear. The pressing force of the paws is light, the depth of the prints is small, so they disappear after the first next (even light) snowfall.

When chasing prey, pasyuk leaves prints at a distance of about 70 cm from each other. During the chase, the already excellent jumping animal pushes off the ground with particular force. As for the width of the path between the paw prints, it is approximately 8 cm.

Footprints in the snowdrifts

The Pasyuk's gait on loose, deep snow is like a two-step walk. This manner of movement is more characteristic of a weasel. The animal places its hind limb in place of its front limb, in the depression left after its step. The opposite pair of paws leaves the same markings in a checkerboard pattern.

The length of a rat's jump among the snowdrifts is 25-40 cm. The characteristic signs of the gait of a rat in deep snow include a thin strip left by the rodent's tail.

In an excessively deep layer of snow, the animal creates a whole complex of tunnels. The marks left by the rodent at the bottom of the passages have an indefinite shape and are generally uninformative.

Rats are very sociable

In the wild, rats tend to live in groups of five, often living in close proximity to other rat families. In areas of low density there is one male per group, which is highly territorial. He is the only mating partner for females. In areas of higher density, males tend to be less territorial, and there may be several males in a group.

These rodents also love human company and may respond to their name. Rats are easy to train. Just like dogs, they will do anything for a tasty treat. They enjoy the interaction they get from doing things like searching, jumping, and coming when called.

Difficulty getting rid of

Rats are quite tenacious, and it is not possible to destroy them using just one method. Their keen sense of smell gives them advantages over all types of pests. You can’t fool them with bait, and even more so using standard poisons. Folk "therapy" of housing has an extensive knowledge of recipes for controlling rodents. Therefore, experts recommend using two or three options on your own at the same time.

Ash and glass

Both ingredients are excellent ways to kill adults and small creatures. The rats will fly off for their fur. Therefore, ash or broken glass that gets into the crumbs, almost into dust, settles on it and, when licked, ends up in the animal’s stomach. They will not be able to withdraw in the usual way. The gravity prevents the rats from moving and they die. But after the death of relatives because of this, rodents will no longer enter a room with such mounds on the floor.

Milk with poison

Agricultural experts propose a deceptive maneuver using sweet milk. A bowl of milk is placed in the same place regularly for three to four days. But without the presence of toxic substances. As soon as the rat gets used to the fact that there is sweetness here and can be consumed without problems, it will come with its full flood. Now you can add poison. The honey kills the smell, and the creature drinks the liquid death on its own.

Rats are excellent athletes

The long claws on a rat's paws allow the rodent to scale brick or cement walls with the ease of Spider-Man. Getting down is also not a problem: a rat can fall from a height of 15 meters and land on its paws without injury. They are also phenomenal jumpers: rats can jump up to 60 cm in height from a standing position. According to one study, rats can lift objects that weigh almost 0.5 kg - more than the average body weight of a rodent.

Rats are able to stay in water for three days in a row (in laboratory conditions) and hold their breath under water for up to three minutes. This means they can swim through sewer pipes, squeeze through water pipes, and lick through a hole in a toilet. There are species that can swim more than 1.6 km without resting!

How not to confuse a Pasyuk rat by its paw prints?

In order to protect your home from the encroachments of dangerous animals, it is worth studying their behavior, character and even habits. So let's play trackers. You can see many footprints on the snow surface. Due to their special anatomical structure, rat tracks can be identified without any problems among many others. And to do this, let’s look at the structure of the limbs.

The rat's paws are very tenacious, and unlike most other animals, they have five toes.

But the front legs deserve special attention:

4 elongated fingers;
the fifth is short and reduced. You can call it a stump;
there is something like a palm;
the fingers are not very far apart;
membranes can be seen.

The membranes only separate the phalanges. There is no fur on the lower part of the paws, but sometimes there is still a small fluff. The animals themselves are very strong. But their legs are muscular and strong, which allows them to develop great speed and jump long distances.

Normal step

If the rat has already settled in and explored the entire area, then it will move confidently. Without much effort or stopping. Her steps will differ depending on the terrain. Let's add to this the fact that after a rodent appears in a house, garden or other place, there is a complete expulsion of all other small animals. Therefore, her presence can only be observed in the singular.

By nature, rats are invaders and warriors. And also intelligent beings. If patterns in the form of an unfinished star are noticeable in the snow, rest assured that instead of one rat, there is a whole squad here. It will have a main individual who controls the entire process. The dominant rat does not hunt at all. Only occasionally comes out to explore and capture new territories. Her assistants will manage themselves, and in addition bring “gifts and offerings” to their main one in the form of food and delicacies.

Since the animals are larger than other domestic invaders, the prints left behind are clearly visible:

Front legs	Adult track size	2 cm by one and a half centimeters
Middle finger length	Reaches 1 cm, the rest are slightly smaller. There is always a dent in the middle from the tubercle
Claws	Can be seen clearly. Since they are sharp, they will be visible as small specks.
Hind legs	Size	In a sitting position, about 4 cm, but when moving, the mark becomes smaller and leaves 2-2.5 cm
Fingers	Five fingers are clearly visible. All elongated and widely spaced

Movement in an unfamiliar area and a familiar one - how to distinguish?

Thanks to different gaits, it is possible to calculate the following actions for a person:

intimidate;
destroy;
catch.

So, when closely spaced tracks are discovered, in which it is noticeable that the individual moved slowly, cautiously, and sometimes sat down, it is clear that it is a guest. I came to investigate the situation and the possible risks of my stay in this place. The tracks are arranged in pairs, evenly. As if in turns. In this case, the front paw is always one in front. The hind leg is also slightly extended. From this description it immediately becomes clear that the animal was sniffing and looking for danger. Still, there may be cats and dogs in a new place.

The tracks are arranged in pairs and evenly

Rats can squeeze through anywhere

A rat can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter thanks to its collapsible skeleton. Its ribs are hinged to its spine and can fold up like an umbrella, meaning that any opening large enough for a rat's head is large enough for the rest of its body.

Photo: www, pestologyltd.co.uk

Rats can even chew their way through thick wood, metal pipes, brick walls and cement. Their front teeth are long - they grow about 12-13 cm per year - and also very sharp. To keep their teeth from becoming too long, rats must constantly chew on hard objects and sharpen the edges of their upper and lower teeth against each other, like a knife on a whetstone. The teeth will eventually grow into the brain if rats stop sharpening them.

Pregnancy and childbirth

Signs of pregnancy will show up in your rat's behavior during the first few weeks. The rat will dominate the other females in the cage, and will usually become alpha instantly and be very restrictive of others, taking food away from them. Typically, other rats will "know" that the female is pregnant and will give her the food she needs, as well as make space for her if necessary.

After the first 14 days, weight gain may be noticed and the rat may look like it has swallowed a tennis ball. But if the rat is large and pregnant with small offspring, a noticeable change in weight may not occur.

Pregnant rat

Most rats give birth during the 21st night of gestation and are not likely to give birth early, but sometimes females give birth until the 22nd or 23rd day

If a pregnant rat does not give birth after these days, you should pay attention to this, as this may indicate possible problems

Caring for a pregnant rat

It is not a good idea to place water and food at different levels, a pregnant female should have everything she needs as close to her nesting site as possible so that she does not walk too much, she does not need it.

One must be very careful when handling a pregnant female as this may harm the babies inside her as well as disturb her personal comfort. You need to move your rat to a separate cage about a week before she gives birth.

This will allow her to have her own space and feel relaxed. The “maternity hospital” for a rat should be cozy and large enough so that she and her children can live there for about 4-5 weeks

You need to move your rat to a separate cage about a week before she gives birth. This will allow her to have her own space and feel relaxed. The “maternity hospital” for a rat should be cozy and large enough so that she and her babies can live there for about 4-5 weeks.

The place for the rat to give birth and for the babies to live should be warm and cozy

During pregnancy, the diet should contain normal foods in the usual quantities, but it is supported by additional proteins, including meat, fish, nuts, bread soaked in milk, etc.

They are indestructible

This quality unites many movie monsters, especially serial ones: you kill them, you kill them, and by the time the next part comes out they are as good as new again.

Well, what do rats have to do with it, you ask. Common rodents. No hint of immortality. They can be anything they want, but considering them invincible is too much.

However... What is the surest way to kill a rat? I? So here it is. When rats find food they aren't sure is safe, they taste (.pdf) it first—just a little. And if they feel somehow wrong, they don’t touch this food again. They are well aware of our insidious plans and know how to destroy them.

In addition, we are increasingly faced with a completely new variety of these creatures, which scientists have already nicknamed “super mutant rats”, which are no longer affected by practically any poison.