It snowed a bit yesterday, and then sort of sleeted and rained a bit on top, then froze in the morning. So overnight passers-by had their footprints preserved. Whose are these?

Mystery footprints in the snow

Isn’t it cute how the two of them ambled along side by side?

They’re actually fairly big. On the other hand, whatever-it-was managed to squeeze under our back gate, which is at most six inches off the ground. I’m betting raccoons.



Contributions

Comment feed for ongoing:Comments feed

From: Brian LeRoux (Jan 28 2008, at 00:29)

Yup them are 'coon tracks. Wow, I can't believe of all the knowledge you've contributed here this is the first time I've deigned to weigh in.

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From: Harold (Jan 28 2008, at 01:48)

Clearly your back yard is infested with Yetis.

Or it could be raccoons http://www.bear-tracker.com/coon.html but that is much less interesting.

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From: Lucian Pintilie (Jan 28 2008, at 05:12)

Hello,

The first result given by Google when searching for "raccoon footprints" is http://www.bear-tracker.com/coon.html, which looks pretty much like your picture. What convinces me is not the the actual prints left by the hind and front feet, but the way they are paired: one front foot print next to a hind foot print.

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From: jeremy hunsinger (Jan 28 2008, at 05:51)

yes, raccoon tracks. they like shiny things and garbage...

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From: Mike Bowler (Jan 28 2008, at 07:07)

Looks like raccoon tracks to me and six inches is more than enough room for one of them. For a large animal, they can squeeze through some pretty small spaces.

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From: Kevin Lipe (Jan 28 2008, at 07:37)

Yeah, down here in Memphis we've got tons of raccoons, and tracks like these are plentiful around everyone's outdoor garbage cans.

I bet that little fella was cold, though.

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From: Paul Clapham (Jan 28 2008, at 08:23)

The raccoons can climb over your fence, too. They didn't have to squeeze under that 6-inch gap (although they could do that).

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From: Josh Peters (Jan 28 2008, at 13:02)

<obi-wan>

These tracks are side by side. Raccoons always ride single file to hide their numbers.</obi-wan>

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