1. Examine the track pattern. The next step is to look at where the footprints fall and try to identify a pattern. You can determine an animal's gait by interpreting the track pattern. Since different animal families have different gaits, examining the track pattern can help you figure out what type of animal tracks you're seeing. You can also use the track pattern to predict where the animal may have gone. Here are the most common track patterns:
• Diagonal walker pattern. Diagonal walkers, including felines, canines, and hoofed animals, lift the front and hind legs on opposite sides at the same time. They leave behind staggered tracks. Imagine the way a horse walks or trots and the prints he leaves behind.
• Pacer pattern. Wide-bodied animals like bears, beavers, opossums and raccoons lift the front and hind legs on the same side of the body at the same time.
• Bounder pattern. Weasels, ferrets and badgers hop so that their front feet land first and their back feet land next. The prints from their back feet will usually be just behind their front prints.
• Galloper pattern. Rabbits and hares gallop when they move. They jump so that their front feet land first and their back feet land in front and to the side of where the front feet landed. Since they have long back feet, their prints tend to look like a "U."
• Hoppers vs. walkers. Bird track patterns tend to fall into two categories: hoppers and walkers. Birds that hop have prints that land adjacent to each other. Birds that walk have offset prints, like those a human makes. Note that hopping birds generally live and feed in trees or in the air, and walking birds generally live closer to the ground and feed on ground-dwelling insects or animals.