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animal sign comparisons

bison: NPS bison dung 120 pxls:

bear: nps bear scat 120 pxls: grizzly:grizzly bear scat photo by J Schmidt:

cylindical, 2' plus (massed if vegetation main food source) We've seen bear scat that was totally dark green.

moose: NPS moose dung 220 pxls:

chips or massed when eating aquatic plants and thick grasses, pellets (a little more oblong than elk)when eating woody browse

elk: NPS elk scat 120 pxls:

chips like cattle when feeding in summer on lots of vegetation, pellets in winter when food is more dried grass

coyote: is like a dog's but often with more hair

frequently deposited where they stop to look for prey at an open area

beaver: you won't see this deposited on land very often

otter: short, round or flat with fish scales, bones or other aquatic food parts. Green and slimy when fresh.

(Sorry, these photos of animal scat are not printed here in a scale to show their size in relation to each other.)

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coyote or wolf tracks will almost always leave toenail imprints, a bobcat or mountain lion won't

wolf track in snow: wolf track in snow photo by Barry O'Neill:

coyote has a walking stride of 6 to 8 inches and leaps of 10 feet, wolf has a walking stride of nearly 30 inches and leaps of 9 or more feet

a bobcat print will fit easily within an adult's palm, a mountain lion's larger foot will fill it or almost fill it

you won't find deer or elk tracks as much in/near the water habitat of moose, and moose tracks are much larger, up to 5 to 7 inches long

NPS bear tracks:

grizzly tracks have less space between toes than black bears, black bears toes arranged in more of an arc than griz, claw length (from tip of claw to front of toe) longer than toe lenght on griz

smallest toe of the five may fail to print

see also NPS photo Yellowstone wildlife montage Robert Hynes 180 pxls: Rocky Mountain mammal size comparisons

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/yellowstone-resources-and-issues-handbook.htm

wolf pack in snow NPS photo:

For actual incidents of injuries from animals, usually caused by approaching them too closely, go to: fatal, near fatal or close call incidents/accidents in camping, backpacking, climbing and mountaineering

Look for the BEARS, MOUNTAIN LION, BISON, ELK and MOOSE sections.

 Updated Friday, August 14, 2009 at 9:26:02 AM by Mary Donahue - donahuemary@fhda.edu
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