The author's footprint and the front and hind tracks of the female cougar that followed him back to his camp in southern California. Her front track is below, and the hind track above.
What Is Wildlife Tracking?
Wildlife tracking involves the learned skills of interpreting animal tracks and signs, as well as the skills that allow people to follow the subtle signs of beasts over varied terrain. Tracking is about finding animals. It also enriches our outdoor experiences and allows us a real way to engage with wildlife. I never glimpsed a Cougar during my time at Nettle Springs, and I might have overlooked our exchange were it not for the tracks that betrayed the story.
Tracking is many things to many people. This book is about identifying and interpreting some of the physical signs that animals leave in their wake: their tracks, scats, and other signs of scent marking. For those folks also interested in following tracks, refer to Practical Tracking: A Guide to Following Footprints and Finding Animals (Liebenberg, Louw, and Elbroch 2010) for an introduction to that subject. Enjoy.
Crisp trail and characteristic drag marks of a mourning dove.
Tracking in Wildlife Conservation,
Research, and Monitoring
Wildlife tracking skills are real and can be learned by anyone with patience and persistence. Tracking, however, is a complex skill that requires intelligence and substantial practice to master (Liebenberg 1990; Stander et al. 1997; De Angelo, Paviolo, and Di Bitetti 2010). Readers should also realize that tracking skills are but tools to be wielded for some purpose and not an end in and of themselves; hunting, education, poaching detection, wildlife monitoring, research, and conservation are but some of its varied applications.
Tracking skills are field skills essential to field science, and field science is the foundation upon which our understanding of wildlife is built. Thus, wildlife tracking is fundamental to both field science and wildlife conservation. Furthermore, conservation is our weapon against the insatiable appetites of commercialism and destructive expansion. Conservation constitutes a means of protecting the diversity upon which the health of ecosystems is so dependent. Realize that wildlife tracking has and could continue to contribute much to current and future conservation efforts—such as identifying wildlife corridors and monitoring endangered species. The larger the number of people with wildlife tracking skills, the greater the potential that a strong understanding of natural history and community ecology will guide current conservation efforts. In our minds, this is intelligent conservation.
CyberTracker Evaluator Adriaan Louw discussing the nuances of antelope tracks with Senior Tracker Johnson Mhlanga as part of efforts to sift out those most knowledgeable for employment.
Science and conservation that relies upon wildlife tracking skills to inform their findings and management decisions are only as good as the observers employed to do the work (Evans et al. 2009, De Angelo et al. 2010, Liebenberg et al. 2010, Elbroch et al. [in press]). Numerous studies have and continue to employ observers without the prerequisite tracking skills to record accurate data (Anderson 2001; Karanth et al. 2003; Evans et al. 2009). Conservation efforts built upon poor data are often counterproductive and misleading (Anderson 2001; Galloway et al. 2006; Nerbonne and Nelson 2008; De Angelo et al. 2010). We hope this book will contribute to the training of California's conservationists.
The paramount skill of the tracker, and indeed any field scientist, is humility. Know your limits. You will always find signs that you will be unable to interpret. Become comfortable with saying “I don't know.” Regardless of your increasing experience, you will continue to make mistakes. Take comfort in the fact that the top trackers in the world make mistakes with regularity (Stander et al. 1997; Liebenberg et al. 2010); the best trackers in the world are also the first to admit that they made a mistake and to correct themselves.
Also recognize the limits inherent in the interpretation of tracks and signs. Tracking is the interpretation of indirect signs, meaning that we are attempting to recreate what an animal did in the field without ever having seen it. Scientists who employ trackers must be aware of these inherent limitations, and those trackers who work for others must communicate their limitations coherently. It is detective work, and sometimes we are wrong. That's correct—wrong—and it's no big deal unless we cling to our first interpretation instead of being willing to adapt as new information presents itself. We can only make the best guess with the evidence at hand, and if new evidence points in a new direction, we should throw out our old ideas and make new, better informed ones. Learn not to be attached to your conclusions.
A beautiful trail of an unknown snake species slithering across exposed dunes.
That said, the possibilities in utilizing wildlife tracking skills in the field, and as part of conservation efforts, are limited only by our imagination. Because so few have employed wildlife trackers—or any but the most rudimentary wildlife tracking skills in research and conservation efforts—the potential work ahead of us is both tremendous and exciting (Elbroch et al. [in press]). May tracking and trackers be more greatly appreciated because of this work.
The tracks tell the story. Look closely for the impression of the Bluegill (fish) plucked from the ground by a scavenging Turkey Vulture.
California tarantula and trail. Drawn by Mike Kresky.
Tracking as Storytelling
To interpret tracks and signs trackers must project themselves into the position of the animal in order to create a hypothetical explanation of what the animal was doing. Tracking is not strictly empirical, since it also involves the tracker's imagination.
LOUIS LIEBENBERG, THE ART OF TRACKING: THE ORIGIN OF SCIENCE, 1990, P. V (IN THE INTRODUCTION)
Tracking is both science and storytelling, and the competent tracker is a practitioner of both. The scientific method involves testing and substantiating hypotheses created in the field, meaning finding and reporting real evidence to support one's claims (for example, the shape of toes as evidence of a Fisher and the known sounds of a bird as evidence the fox was moving nearby).
Storytelling is the interpretation of the scientific evidence with your logical mind and imagination; it is the reporting phase of science. Storytelling is also a means by which trackers share their findings in the field with a larger community, whether that consists of family, friends, researchers, or conservation managers. Articulating evidence is an essential skill of the tracker.
Thus, science and storytelling work hand in hand. One cannot be an effective tracker without practicing both skills. Storytelling also allows others to “listen” to what we are finding, so that they may provide us essential feedback that will improve and refine our skills. Trackers receive constant feedback on their skills from wildlife-they either find animals or they don't-but people provide us something more. We are social creatures sharing an increasingly crowded world. Conservation requires teamwork; unified is the only way we will conserve diversity on a global scale.
Tracking Is Possible
Tracking