# What kind of animal track is this most likely to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584 "2020-02-07T14:30:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/21 "2020-02-07T19:35:55Z")
I’m pretty sure that’s just the imprint of a kid’s hand grabbing fingertips of snow as described above. I tried it outside and it makes a very similar pattern depending how wide you stretch your thumb (my snow is too powdery to get a good picture). Any tracks close to that shape like an aquatic mammal all have 5 toes, and birds pretty much all have 3 toes pointing forward. Fake. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/22 "2020-02-07T20:27:18Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > If it’s a fake, the woman that posted it is sticking with her story. She says that there were no other tracks around. Just this one track. If it actually is a single track, then it is absolutely a fake. No animal could leave a single isolated print like that. As has been mentioned, raccoons, beavers, and most other pawed mammals have five toes. Birds have three toes pointing forward. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/23 "2020-02-07T20:55:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > If it actually is a single track, then it is absolutely a fake. No animal could leave a single isolated print like that. Concur. That and the fact it doesn’t match any other known print. If she’s serious I’m guessing her husband is pranking her to start a Internet hoax. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/24 "2020-02-08T01:41:21Z")
I think they have an infestation of ostriches. The cold weather kind. I saw some odd tracks at my house last winter. I live high in the Rocky mountains. I was just taking the dogs for a walk down our ‘road’. Something had leaped 3 feet up and 4 feet forward into the snow. Left a tail mark too. Thinking Mountain Lion/Cougar. Not unheard of but a bit rare. We mostly get Black Bear and so many moose in the yard that I stopped naming them. Moose are cool. They aren’t afraid of anything, and for good reason. AND they ‘mow’ the grass over my septic field so win-win. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/25 "2020-02-08T02:30:28Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I think they have an infestation of ostriches. The cold weather kind. Ostriches have freaky-looking [two-toed feet](https://www.featurepics.com/StockImage/20070724/ostrich-feet-stock-picture-390257.jpg). So it is unlikely to be the elusive snow ostrich :). ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/26 "2020-02-08T05:15:08Z")
The track as photographed is bigger than when it was created. Look at the boot print. There’s partial melting and refreezing. During the period of melting there was some sublimation of the snow (snow to water vapor) and the size of the prints increased. Also, the digit points of the middle track indicate each digit curled inward as it pressed down. Animals don’t do that. But human hands do when one curls the fingers while pressing into the snow. The rear part of the track shows the thumb curl distinctly. Lastly, there are two “mounds” on either side of the middle track, as though placed there to reshape the track. It’s fake. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/27 "2020-02-08T12:21:23Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Ostriches have freaky-looking [two-toed feet](https://www.featurepics.com/StockImage/20070724/ostrich-feet-stock-picture-390257.jpg). So it is unlikely to be the elusive snow ostrich :). :eek: Earth is way weirder than anything sci-fi writers can come up with. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/28 "2020-02-08T13:23:55Z")
> [@mmmiiikkkeee](#): > > I’d say racoon or beaver. But yes one track in isolation makes it hard to tell what left it, or whether it was just faked. Not very many animals can hover and just occasionally place one foot down. See “Jersey Devil” in post #2. I’m a little disappointed that my pun in that post got no reaction. Personally, I thought it was brilliant! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/29 "2020-02-08T14:06:03Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Something had leaped 3 feet up and 4 feet forward into the snow. If you’re just looking at tracks, how would you know how high up it leaped? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/30 "2020-02-08T14:46:25Z")
I was looking at the Awww sun redit yesterday and there was a video of an owl running. The feet looked quite a lot like the photo to me. Here’s a photo of [owl foot prints in snow](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcTN3wLe1ObFVjE2XJUQbWtY-bYgGUWSd0_TEaWooXUv6QnFVVq4). What do you think? Possible? Lust looked at the OP again. Too many toes. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584/31 "2020-02-08T16:16:44Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > The track as photographed is bigger than when it was created. Look at the boot print. There’s partial melting and refreezing. During the period of melting there was some sublimation of the snow (snow to water vapor) and the size of the prints increased. That was my thought. It looks sort of like an [o’possum back foot.](https://www.opossum.org/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-track-is-this-most-likely-to-be/847584.md?page=1)