Animal Tracks
WILD’s activity Tracks! is a great way to introduce students to signs animals leave behind. A fun winter extension is to have students follow a set of tracks and figure out what animal it is.
After a snow fall, have students carefully follow a set of tracks as far as they can. To encourage animals to visit your location, leave some birdfeed on the ground before and after a snow fall. Students should try to guess where the animal is going, if it is running, walking, or jumping, and what it is doing at various locations. Finally, students should try to figure out the animal left the tracks. Be sure to use the track identifier in the Iowa Supplement to Project WILD.
Book list
Grades PreK-2
Arnosky, J. 1989. Book of Animal Tracking. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
Benjamin, C. 1994. Footprints in the Snow. Scholastic, Inc.
Bowen, B. 1998. Tracks in the Wild. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Dorros, A. 1991. Animal Tracks. Scholastic Inc.
George, L.B. 1996. Around the Pond: Who's Been Here? Greenwillow Books.
George, L.B. 1999. In the Snow: Who's Been Here? HarperCollins Publishers.
George, L.B. 1998. In the Woods: Who's Been Here? HarperCollins Publishers.
Nail, J.D. 1994. Whose Tracks Are These?: A Clue Book of Familiar Forest Animals. Rinehart P.
Selsam, M.E. 1999. Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints. HarperTrophy.
Selsam, M.E. 1991. Keep Looking! Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
Grades 3-5
Arnosky, J. 2002. Field Trips: Bug Hunting, Animal Tracking, Bird-watching, Shore Walking. HarperCollins.
Dendy, L.A. 1998. Tracks, Scats and Signs. T&N Children's Publishing.
Doolittle, B. 2001. Reading the Wild. Greewich Workshop Press.
Swinburne, S. 2003. The Woods Scientist. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Grades 6-8
Elbroch, M. 2001. Bird Tracks and Sign: A Guide to North American Species. Stackpole Books.
La Tourrette, J. 1997. Watching Wildlife: The National Wildlife Federation Guide to Observing Animals in the Wild. Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated.
Waterford Press. 2001. Animal Tracks. Waterford Press Ltd.
Grades 9-12
Elbroch, M., E. Marks, and C.D. Boretos. 2001. Bird Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species. Stackpole Books.
Elbroch, M. and O.J. Murie. 2005. Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Farrand, J. 1993. Familiar Animal Tracks of North America. Knopf Publishing Group.
Halfpenny, J. 1986. A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America. Johnson Books.
Halfpenny, J. 2006. Scats and Tracks of the Great Plains: A Field Guide to the Signs of Seventy Wildlife Species. Globe Pequot Press.
Jaeger, E. 2001. Tracks and Trailcraft. Lyons Press.
McDougall, L. 2004. The Encyclopedia of Tracks and Scats. Lyons Press.
Murie, O.J. 1998. A Field Guide to Animal Tracks. Houghton Mifflin.
Rezendes, P. 1999. Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Sign. HarperCollins Publishers.
Smith, R.P. 1991. Animal Tracks and Signs of North America. Stackpole Books.
Young, J. 2007. Animal Tracking Basics. Stackpole Books.
