Field Guide to Tracks and Signs of Southern and East African Wildlife

Related to Southern African and East African Wildlife, this great field guide is about their tracks and signs, like droppings, feeding signs, scent marks and others.
field-guide-to-tracks-and-signs
978-1-86872-558-8
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Title: Field Guide to Tracks and Signs of Southern and East African Wildlife
Authors: Chris Stuart; Tilde Stuart
Struik Publishers
3rd edition. Cape Town, South Africa 2001
ISBN 9781868725588 / ISBN 978-1-86872-558-8
Softcover, 14x21 cm, 310 pages, numerous bw- and colour photos and illustrations

Description:

Every animal leaves some indication of its presence or its passing, a track, a dropping, a feeding sign or perhaps just a depression in the grass. By reading these signs you can gather fascinating information about the animal's behaviour, its feeding pattern, its movements and its relationship with its environment. This is an unique approach to identification and allows you to first look at the track or sign and then, by means of keys, to determine the animal group or species responsible for what you see. The keys refer you to detailed descriptions and illustrations. The book is arranged to enable quick identification. There are chapters on: tracks, droppings and bird pellets, feeding signs, nests and shelters, other signs, such as mud wallows, scent marks, feathers and shed skin, skulls.

Content: Field Guide to Tracks & Signs of Southern and East African Wildlife

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
INTRODUCTION

A few pointers to make tracking and sign interpretation easier
Measuring, collecting and preserving tracks and other signs
TRACKS
General track key
Paws without claws
Paws with claws
Paws with claws - large
Paws with claws - medium to large
Paws with claws - medium
Paws with claws - medium to small
Paws with claws - very small
Hands and feet
Cloven hoofs
Cloven hoofs - large
Cloven hoofs - medium
Cloven hoofs - small
Non-cloven hoofs
Three toes visible
Big game
Bird and other tracks
Webbed feet
Three obvious forward-pointing toes
Four obvious toes
Feet without webbing
Three toes forward; no back toe
Three toes forward; back toe angled
Three toes forward; back toe straight
Three toes forward; back toe off-centre
Two toes forward; two toes back
Two toes forward; none back
"Tramline" trail
"Tramline" trail with central drag mark
Undulating track without foot marks
DROPPINGS AND BIRD PELLETS
Key to droppings
Single pellets or small accumulations of tiny cylindrical pellets
Spherical, cylindrical pellets, usually pointed at one end, in small heaps or
large accumulations
Key to antelope dung pellets
Lozenge-shaped pellets in small scattered piles or large accumulations
Grooved and ungrooved, flattened pellets
Droppings of mixed shape and form
Sausage-shaped droppings with a point at one end
Sausage-shaped droppings, tapered at one end and usually segmented
Kidney-shaped droppings
Thick "pancake-like" droppings
Large, barrel-shaped droppings
Liquid droppings
Formed sausage, usually dry and firm, with partial white coating
Formed sausage, usually pointed at both ends, with a hard cap of white or
yellowish uric acid
Bird pellets
FEEDING SIGNS
Prey remains of predators and raptors
Holes in the ground
Tree damage
Fruit and seeds
Other plant parts
Insect feeding signs on plant material
Shallow water
NESTS AND SHELTERS
Bird nests
Ground nests - little or no material
Ground nests - fair amount of material
Self-excavated holes in vertical earth banks
On cliffs - little or no material
On cliffs - substantial nests
Nests in natural tree-holes
Self-excavated holes in trees
Self-excavated holes in nests of tree ants
Nests floating on water
Large dome-shaped nests in trees
Small woven balls
Long entrance spout
Short entrance spout
Very short or no entrance spout
Finely woven with top, side entrance
Coarse but tidy with top, side entrance
Untidy with top, side entrance
Felted with short side-tube
Mud-pellet nests
Untidy mass of twigs in tree
Large stick nests on top of trees
Large to medium stick nests in tree forks or on horizontal branches
Small, cup-shaped nests in trees or bushes
Suspended, small, purse-like nests
Mammal shelters
In trees and bushes
On the ground
Underground
Invertebrate shelters
OTHER SIGNS
Mud-wallowing
Urine
Tree scratching
Rolling
Scent-marking
Holes
Bark-stripping
Hair
Shed skin
Feathers
Debris
SKULLS
APPENDICES

Glossary
Further reading
Distribution and habitat checklist
Mammal list
Bird list
INDEX

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