A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America

Animal tracks in the snow of the mountain forest, in the mud along a streambank, or in the sand of the desert are much more than footprints. James Halfpenny’s Field Guide will allow the nature lover to satisfy his or her curiosity by identifying the animal that left the prints. But identification is only the beginning of a fascinating activity: interpretation is the rewarding goal of this book. With it anyone can be a nature detective, able to reconstruct the behavior of mammals from mice to moose. Tracks tell stories and the user of this book can read them. Based on field research, much of it the author’s own, the book brings the amateur naturalist the latest information on animal gaits and the interpretation of scat.

Dr. James Halfpenny, founder of A Naturalist’s World, is a former research associate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder. He was an instructor at the National Outdoor Leadership School and served as director of the Mountain Research Station. He has taught tracking since 1967.

Elizabeth Biesiot is the artist/designer for the Denver Public Library. She received a BFA from Bowling Green State University and has had a lifelong interest in natural history. She lives in Denver.