An opossum hind foot track? As a comparison my knife is 5 inches, 12.7 centimeters, long. Photograph by the Author.
Perhaps an opossum front foot track? Photograph by the Author.
Animal
tracking isn’t just a wilderness activity anymore, what with so many animals,
many of whom that would have been scarce or almost extinct thirty years ago,
moving into urban and semi-urban areas.
Sometimes you can use your tracking skills at work. In fact, the other day I was doing a
preliminary inventory on some heavy equipment in a warehouse in Buffalo, NY; that
is where I found some tracks that I thought were opossum, didelphis
virginiana, tracks1.
But because the concrete dust on the splash guards of the equipment, was
so thin and fine, the tracks didn’t quite look like the opossum tracks that I was
used to seeing in the mud or snow, so I hit the books and here is what I
found...
Opossum tracks in the mud, with the front footprint on the center left and the hind footprint on the center right of the photo (and with vole tracks near the bottom). Photograph taken by Michael Lensi, 2003, HERE.
From page 10 of Roger Tory Peterson, Animal Tracks: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition.
So,
when you find what you think are opossum tracks, an easy way to identify them
is to look for the opposable “thumb” that is found on the hind foot. Opossums have an opposable thumb on the back
of their rear feet, which allows them to grasp and hold branches like a human
hand. The tracks of their hind feet show
four toes with claws on the front of the foot and one toe without a claw, pointing
to the inside, at the rear of the foot. The
tracks of their front feet show five toes with claws at the front of the
foot. You can also look for a drag line,
which the opossum’s tail leaves in the dirt, dust or snow between the tracks,
either as short, alternate side drag marks or as a long, sinuous drag mark. An opossum’s stride is from 5-½ to 11 inches,
or 14 to 28 centimeters.
A North American Opossum with winter coat, photographed by Cody Pope, HERE.
So,
the tracks that I found in the dust on the splash guard were indeed opossum, didelphis
virginiana, tracks, since I could see the four front toes and the “thumb”
of the rear foot and the five toes of the front foot.
Closeups of the footprints, photograph by the Author.
And
now we know who comes out to play at night, in the warehouse, around the heavy
equipment.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
to leave a comment on either site. I
announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1 The
Virginia opossum, didelphis virginiana, which is also known as the North
American opossum; in the United States it is often simply called a possum.
Sources
Opossum Society of the United States; “Opossum
Footprints”, [© 2002 -2014 Opossum Society of the United States], https://opossumsocietyus.org/general-opossum-information/opossum-prints/, accessed December 17, 2020
Roger
Tory Peterson, Animal Tracks: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, (The Easton
Press: Norwalk Connecticut, [1985]) page 10-11
Wikimedia, “Opossum_and_vole_tracks_in_mud”,
Michael Lensi, Uploaded to Wikimedia, September 16, 2004,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opossum_and_vole_tracks_in_mud.JPG, accessed December 17,
2020
Wikimedia, “936px-Opossum_2, North American
Opossum with winter coat”, by Cody Pope, February 21, 2007, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opossum_2.jpg, accessed December 17, 2020
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