Track to puzzle over

[deermanok]

Chupacabra

I was gonna say that but I couldn't spell it.

 

[William Sublette]

william, you aren't by chance a former Marine Aviator?

Nope.

Those guys are cool, hardcore, etc.

Slackadaisical would be a better descriptor for me.

 

[chorizo]

Nope.

Those guys are cool, hardcore, etc.

Slackadaisical would be a better descriptor for me.

Why thanks! I am a retired Marine Aviator...and I had a good buddy fellow aviator, who's name was ...William Sublette...lost track of him 20 plus years ago.

 

[deerstalkert]

my vote is for the Dire Wolf. like contemperory Canines, every once in a while you get one on steroids.

 

[JeffG]

Are there more than one track?

 

[Notchy Bob]

Good link! BUT notice how the track I posted is more open and you can draw an X between the toes and the pad. The one in the link is rounder and that X can’t be drawn. This is one way to tell the difference between a canine and a feline. The Wyoming track matches a canine in that respect. Reading about the extinct Dire wolf indicates that they were about or only a tiny bit larger then our current gray wolf. This track is twice as large of the wolf tracks I saw in Alaska. Still a puzzle to me as I have no formal training in such matters. In North America there were at least three types of Smilodon, the largest one is smaller then the one that made the South American track. But still the toes aren’t right.

I was thinking Dire wolf, also, but that's a big track. It is definitely from a canid of some sort. There was a very large prehistoric canid, larger than a Dire wolf, called an Epicyon, but I don't know their range, nor do I know if their period of existence would coincide with when that track was made. That's a pretty cool find, in any event.

Maybe the shunka warak'in... ?

There was mention of a few two-toed tracks nearby. Do we know what kind of critter made those tracks?

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[hawkeye2]

An Acromegalic Dire Wolf with one leg.

 

[JeffG]

There is no "traction, no "push" in the direction of travel. Soil that soft would be heeled up some. A talented sculptor?

 

[MLZ]

I'd recommend talking to an archaeologists and seeing if they can identify. Whatever it is, it's in surprisingly good shape.

 

[Phil Coffins]

I hope to do that soon.

 

[JBrandon]

A giant mammal track in sandstone? Unlikely.
And so well defined and deep? Suspicious.
Why is the area around the track clean of the lichen you see on the rest?
Need to know age of the sandstone formation. Most western sandstone is too old for mammals.

 

[Crew Chief]

I was shown this track and have heard two ideas of what it is, I have a third. It’s in sandstone of Wyoming with some other tracks. I won’t say what I think at this point as to not cloud the issue. Maybe the answer can be found by talking with some collage types.
IMG_0965 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

I would say that is some type of canid like a wolf type animal. The triangular heel pad the the faint toe nail imprints is a sign of a canid. Cat tracks have a broader more clover leaf type heel pad and will not show toe nail marks because they are retracted.

 

[Phil Coffins]

I have sent an Email to a professor at university of Wyoming asking if any info is available about this.
In the mean time here’s another photo.
IMG_0964 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

 

[Tenmile]

Shouldn’t there be more tracks?

 

[user 48702]

Skinwalker or Wampus Cat

 

[chorizo]

There is no "traction, no "push" in the direction of travel. Soil that soft would be heeled up some. A talented sculpt

Shouldn’t there be more tracks?

Ya' know, things kind of get lost over 10,000 years or so.

 

[BadDaditood]

I wanna say Smilodon Fatalis, because it sounds EPIC !!!

 

[Tradbow]

Skinwalker or Wampus Cat

Yep I’ll have to agree. Wampum cat.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Black Wolves are in MT maybe one took a trip south.

Oh yeah way to large for Chupacabra.

 

[tenngun]

looks more cat than anything else

did sabertooth have retractable claws? if not then that is my take. If they did have retractable claws then I am at a loss.

I can’t answer that directly, but one of the things I know is that saber tooth cats were ‘all cat’ but had a very dog like carteristics. It been hypothesized they were slower but longer running then lions and tigers that are in their size range today.
Just based on their body type I would hazard the claws may have been partly exposed and not fully retractable (?)