animal sign comparisonsbison:
bear: grizzly:
cylindical, 2' plus (massed if vegetation main food source) We've seen bear scat that was totally dark green.
moose:
chips or massed when eating aquatic plants and thick grasses, pellets (a little more oblong than elk)when eating woody browse
elk:
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:
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
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
Rocky Mountain mammal size comparisons
http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/yellowstone-resources-and-issues-handbook.htm

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.
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