Friday, February 27, 2009

Vaughn Hills mystery print

Donna discovered this print at the northeast corner of the beaver pond at Vaughn Hills on Thursday 2/26. Substrate was frozen granular snow, with a dusting of powder on top.  Many fallen pine branches (none larger than 2” in diameter) peppered the area. The surrounding area was criss-crossed with a variety of tracks, none of which definitively led to or away from this print.

 

 

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7 comments:

  1. SusanFebruary 28, 2009 at 2:32 PM

    If this is snow ploppage, it's a most unusual example, Donna. The outline resembles a cat with a rooster tail ... or is that a rabbit with antlers? Wait! This isn't one of those unexplained miracle images (a grilled cheese sandwich comes to mind), is it? I give up.

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  2. LarsMarch 1, 2009 at 11:13 PM

    Great photo, Donna. The print of that rat-like tail seems unique to an opossum. The body sizing is right (one ref. says total L = 14-37 in / avg 29 in). In musing what else it might be, I found the State Mammal List from Mass Fish and Wildlife. Nothing else seems to fit that tail.
    http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/wildlife/facts/mammals/mammal_list.htm

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  3. SusanMarch 2, 2009 at 1:25 PM

    I am by no means attempting to rain on anyone's parade here, but how can this be a body imprint - on a fresh powdery surface, no less - without obvious tracks leading away from it?

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  4. DanMarch 2, 2009 at 2:22 PM

    The experienced tracker soon learns that there are three things that fall from trees: domestic cats, opossums, and buttered toast.

    The domestic, or house, cat (Felis catus), always lands on its feet, even when falling onto uneven terrain.

    Toast, upon falling from a tree limb or being dropped by a raptor, always lands butter side down.

    The Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) always lands on its right side when prematurely exiting a tree, or when hitching a ride with a passing raptor. This has been shown time and time again by winter tracking surveys throughout its native habitat in the Northern Hemisphere. Interestingly enough, its Australian counterpart, the Fat-Arsed Wombat (Vombatus ursinus), always lands on its left side, and only in summer.

    Do you understand what I am no longer not saying to you?

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  5. SusanMarch 2, 2009 at 6:39 PM

    Excuse me if I remain skeptical. An opossum is similar in size to a housecat. It must have been a mighty raptor that descended and lifted up this presumably clumsy adult opossum (known to be an excellent climber, by the way), leaving nary a sign.

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  6. Janet PesaturoMarch 2, 2009 at 7:25 PM

    A great horned owl could probably do it.....Nonetheless, I'm inclined to go with snow ploppage masquerading as a animal print.

    Dan, you lost me - are you going with the opossum or the toast?

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  7. Janet PesaturoMarch 5, 2009 at 7:18 PM

    Here's a new piece of information to throw into this debate. If one were to find oneself with nothing better to do than to google images of dead opossums, one would discover that there are hundreds of them, showing the animal in many different positions. But, however improbable it may seem to find an opossum print in snow with no tracks leading to or fro, the very first image bears startling resemblance to Donna's print:
    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dead_Opossum.jpg

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