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The answer is STRIPED SKUNK.
The pertinent clues were prominent claw marks, smooth
& continuous palm pads, meandering trail, near residential houses.
Being the second snow of the year was sort of a clue also, as skunks
tend to be dormant during the depths of winter but you can't rule out
skunk if it is around the first (or last) snow of the year, or if it is
during a relatively warm spell. Rezendes' field guide says that
the narrow trail width often confuses people because they don't expect
such a large-looking animal to leave such delicate tracks. This
was a good learning experience for me, as the trail width seemed too
narrow for skunk until I looked it up.
In this particular instance, the dead giveaway was the
ODOR. Sorry I didn't provide that clue; that would've made it too
easy! Hahahahahaha!
The very regular stride of this particular animal is
apparently very unusual for skunks, according to field guides, so that
was in there to fool everybody.
The 5th toe was also generally not visible in the
tracks, another clue the skunk left just to fool us. |
