Can anyone identify this footprint for me?

[FatCanyoner]

Hey folks,

Over the June long weekend a group of us spent a few days looking for Aboriginal art (unsuccessfully... but you can read about that here if you want http://fatcanyoners.org/2012/06/09/wollemi-aboriginal-art/).

On the last day, while bashing back along a fire trail from the Colo River to the Putty Road we saw a number of these footprints in the soft, wet soil. They have four distinctive 'fingers', are quite large, and didn't look like anything I'd seen before. I joked it was the work of the Penrith Panther, but I'm hoping someone else here can give me some expert opinion on what it was. I've attached two images, one closer up, and the other giving a size comparison to an adult's hand.

Thanks in advance.

Tim

[hikingoz]

I think it might be the front foot of a wombat less the smaller 5th toe. This would suit the size of the print and the area you found it.

[phan_TOM]

Do you have any more photos of the gait or the track pattern?

I'm thinking it may be a dog/dingo from first impressions (sorry, couldn't help it ) and after a quick consultation of a book I have on the subject, Tracks, Scats and Other Traces: A Field Guide to Australian Mammals by Barbara Triggs. Fascinating reading by the way...

Theres definitely 4 large (which is why I'm not convinced its a wombat) strong toes with claws but it's a bit hard to say as there is no clear pads... I'll scan the 'key to tracks' page out of the book and post an image to see what you think but thats the closest thing to it from mine.

edit:

Heres the image of Aussie mammal tracks which made me think it was a dog but after searching for dog/wombat prints on the net it's possible that could be a wombat after all, its not as easy as I thought, nearly every photo of the tracks look completely different. The first track in row C is a wombat and the first on row E is the dog.

Last edited by phan_TOM on Mon 25 Jun, 2012 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[daznkez]

Hey Tim
I reckon you have the not so rare Wollemi Wallaby
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3238/236 ... 60b759.jpg)
Where the two paws come up close together in the dirt
The Penrith Panther would have retracted her claws whilst in the actual pursuit of yowies and the like
And the Wombat would have had a deeper rounded heel print not to mention those little green nuggets they leave everywhere

Daz n Kez

[ILUVSWTAS]

Any jokers in your group?? More to the point any jokers with bananas?? Looks like 4 banana imprints layed out to look like an animal to me, or maybe im just bananas.

[hikingoz]

Any jokers in your group?? More to the point any jokers with bananas?? Looks like 4 banana imprints layed out to look like an animal to me, or maybe im just bananas.

That would have been my second guess. Wombats, then bananas....then thylacines

[phan_TOM]

I reckon you have the not so rare Wollemi Wallaby
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3238/236 ... 60b759.jpg)
Where the two paws come up close together in the dirt

Lucky I don't make a living out of tracking animals or have to track them to survive because I think your much closer to the mark thatn I was daznkez I can even see that there is a pretty clear ridge between the middle two toes now indicating the two feet which it likely is & It could be any macropod with its two feet together...

[FatCanyoner]

Thanks for that folks. Wallaby does seem to be the growing consensus from people. The heal imprints have been completely washed away apparently. Maybe I need to look at the ground more while walking if I'm so befuddled by such an endemic species!!!

[bernieq]

Yep, kangaroo (probably male, judging by the size) – I see this pattern around home all the time as well as elsewhere on walks – most recently in the Little Desert (Vic).

1st photo is a print I saw (Grampians, 2006) and was initially puzzled by. In the 2nd photo, the two imprints are outlined.

print seen in the Grampians

two prints - made obvious

k2.JPG (286.65 KiB) Viewed 6659 times