What Made Those Tracks?
What kind of animal has been here?
Things to Think About
Something's been digging under your open porch or deck. The grass is all torn up, and there is an unfamiliar and unpleasant odor. You have probably been visited by a SKUNK. You see the same digging, but without the smell, most likely an ARMADILLO has been foraging.
Wondering what keeps making those long shallow underground burrows in your lawn and flower beds. If the burrows are about 1-1/2" wide, it's probably a MOLE.
You see signs of nibbling and tearing high up on your ornamental shrubs, the culprit is probably a DEER, but if the nibbling is neat and not torn, and is at ground level, the guilty party is most likely a RABBIT.
Been hearing noises in your attic or crawl space? SQUIRRELS and RACCOONS nest in attics, and RATS nest in crawl spaces. Look at the size of the entry holes. Raccoons are much larger than squirrels or rats. Raccoons move around at night, but squirrels move mostly during the daytime. Baby raccoons are very vocal, and sound quite a bit like very young puppies.
What Made Those Tracks?
Each species is easily identifiable by several means. Like a human fingerprint, many species leave a track, trail or print as they move along. Also, many animals leave other tell-tale signs, such as scat, or notable chewing patterns. Click on the boxes to the left to see an anatomically correct depiction of their print or track, as well as their scat.
HEY! I'm a Chipmunk, not a squirrel!
Group Family Photo!
Look, but Don't TOUCH!
What are you looking at?
Yep,
I'm the Squirrel...
Don't hate us
because we're
beautiful...
Well,
we're all BEAUTIFUL to somebody!
