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This video is proudly brought to you by the Wildlife Diversity Program of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
It's great weather for a walk outside and
in the spring and in the fall, wildlife biologists at Texas Parks and Wildlife often receive
phone calls from people who are interested in the wildlife they find.
Many times the only evidence that people will find of wildlife are their tracks
So what if you found this track, a very large track, near a local riverbank? What would
you think it was? If you're like many people, you'd think it
was made by a very large animal -- maybe even a mountain lion
But it turns out this track was made by a large-bodied dog like perhaps a Labrador retriever
or a Great Pyrenees. In the rest of this video I'll give you a
few hints to help you tell the difference between large dog tracks and mountain lion
tracks The toes in dog tracks are generally more
egg shaped, and they're arranged symmetrically around the metacarpal pad or the palm pad
of the foot. And while you won't always see claws in the track, if you do they'll typically
be really robust and broad The metacarpal pad of dogs is triangular shaped
and relatively small in comparison to the rest of the track.
In contrast, the toes of the mountain lion track are much more round or oval shaped,
and are asymmetrically arranged around the pad. The 3rd toe appears to be a little bit
farther away from the pad than the rest of the toes.
The palm pad of the mountain lion track has three lobes and is often described as having
an M shape. Also the pad has a trap outline instead of a triangular one and is relatively
large in proportion to the rest of the track. I hope this video has helped you learn more
about identifying mountain lion tracks, and if you want to continue to support wildlife
conservation and management in the state of Texas, please consider purchasing a horned
lizard license plate.