Chapter 1 : First Field Guide App Series - Home First Field Guide to Animal Tracks of Southern Africa and millions of other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Cape Town, South Africa Men and women are able to identify the footprints of an individual person. They can identify the antelope they have shot from the rest of the herd, and have the ability to track down that specific animal. Footprints provide the most detailed information on the identity, movements and activities of animals. The spoor illustrations in this book are exact studies made under ideal conditions - in other words, spoor that are clearly visible in mud or sand, and are not distorted. In reality, one will probably never find two animals with identical footprints. One advantage of using ideal footprints is that it gives one a preconceived image, which makes it easier to identify imperfect tracks correctly, in conditions where the tracks may otherwise have been overlooked. Preconceived images play an important role in the recognition of patterns in nature. One must therefore be careful not to be prejudiced and see what one would like to see. The clearest footprints are usually found in damp, slightly muddy earth, in wet sand, in a thin layer of loose dust on firm substrate, or in snow. Dirt roads and paths may have a thin layer of very fine dust on firm ground that can reveal the finest detail of the spoor. Usually, however, footprints are partially obliterated, and one should walk up and down the trail to find the best imprints. Even if no clear footprints can be found, one can collect bits of information by studying several footprints and piecing them together for an image of the complete spoor. Keep in mind that footprints may be distorted owing to slipping and twisting of the feet on the ground. When an animal is walking or running on a slope, the feet may slip, so the spoor will appear elongated or warped. On hard ground padded toes may not show and only claw marks may be seen. If the spoor could be that of several possible species, the distribution maps should be consulted to eliminate those that do not occur in that locality. Habitat and habits, such as sociability and daily rhythm, as well as feeding signs and faeces, should also be considered to narrow down the range of possibilities. Spoor identification requires not only a great deal of knowledge, but also skill and experience. Although the inexperienced naturalist should be able to use this book to identify near-perfect spoor in ideal conditions, the accurate identification of imperfect spoor, especially in loose sand, may only be possible after considerable experience. Page 1
Chapter 2 : Top Wildlife Apps for African Safaris - African Budget Safaris Best Apps by Louis Liebenberg. This is the first comprehensive field guide to the animal tracks of southern Africa. In the first, introductory section, author Louis Liebenberg explains how to identify and interpret spoor, and how to master the basics of tracking. The ability to accurately read difficult, partial or little-seen signs left in the soil or sand is rare, and is largely the domain of professionals. However, by making use of a comprehensive guide, anyone who applies him- or herself can begin to decipher these natural hieroglyphs etched on the ground. I say this because perfect prints are actually much rarer than one might expect, as the animal needs to step just right, on the right kind of surface, at the right pace, in the right weather conditions! Realistically, every time the soil type or its consistency changes, the track will change. With every differing pace and with every gust of wind it will change once again, and with every antic of the living animal there will be anomalies to the pattern it leaves behind. Thus, by combining the incredibly accurate detail of the sketches, and applying it mentally, piece by piece to an actual track on the ground, you will be able to identify the animal that went by â providing the details are still visible. It is also important to note that the more you practise, the better you will become at this. You will also need to come to terms with the fact that there are tracks out there that are too damaged by wind or other animals, or are simply too old to determine exactly what they are. On pages 2â 17 are keys to assist with the identification of carnivore tracks. They will be of great use to the beginner, but as your experience grows you will be able to miss the steps in the beginning of the keys, moving straight to the actual end groups of mammals. This is the first attempt to devise a key-system for the tracks of mammals of southern Africa. It is important that once you have arrived at a choice of animal, you refer to the species account page, and use all of the available information to confirm that it is in fact the species that you think it is â often there are details missing from an individual track. If you have used the combined information of a sequence of tracks, the details should be much more complete, and thus your interpretation more accurate. Using this basic guide to the southern African spoor types, one may identify many interesting species, which are seldom actually seen, by their spoor alone. For example, whenever an animal or bird crosses a bare patch of loose substrate, go and look at the signs it leaves behind. This, with a bit of practice, will improve your skills. The aim of this book is to assist nature enthusiasts to improve their skills of interpretation in the field and help to complete the understanding of just what is going on around them. Origins of tracking This ancient art has its origins steeped in the mystery of time. When did man first use this skill? We will never know exactly how or why, but it is interesting to speculate. It is not, as many people surmise, just looking at a footprint and recognising it or following it. An example of this use of sound would be, for instance, while following the trail of a predator, such as a lioness, one hears the shrill call of an African tree squirrel up ahead. What does this mean to you? Why would a troop of baboons bark in alarm during the night? Perhaps they have been disturbed at their roost by a leopard that is patrolling his territory. The same leopard may, in the morning, cause a cacophony of vervet monkey alarm calls as he passes below the river bank trees in which they are feeding. In fact in private reserves across southern Africa, many sightings of our larger predators are a direct result of the alarm calls of potential prey animals! Even the smaller predators can cause an audible disturbance in the bush: Fortunately, it is not always a sign of predators if we hear a noise in the bush. For example, if you hear zebras calling throughout the night, it might be a sign to the listener of an attempted takeover of harem females by a competing stallion. During early May, the Bushveld night may be filled with the deep growls of impala rams competing in their part of the yearly rut. The territorial calls of blackbacked or side-striped jackals, lions, spotted hyenas, blue wildebeest and many others often punctuate the silence of a Bushveld evening in southern Africa. Then, another important aspect of tracking is seeing and interpreting the signs other than tracks left behind in nature. Droppings, scent-markings and smells, rubbings, roll marks, scratches, urine patches, diggings, broken branches, horn marks, carcasses of prey animals, chew marks, burrows, scrapes, Page 2
drag marks and many other non-footprint signs can be seen or sensed in nature where animals are plentiful. Many animals use tree trunks or exposed tree roots to mark their territory, by horning, rubbing or clawing them regularly. Some animals dig holes of differing shapes and sizes using different methods to obtain food, or as a form of shelter. Other animals may adopt these burrows as their own and modify them to suit their specific needs once the original occupant has moved along. Dung is deposited, in one place or another, by all animals: The dung may be a single deposit or an accumulation of many separate visits to a latrine, civetry or midden. Kills left behind by predators are as varied as the predators themselves, with different hunting methods, prey animals, killing techniques, storage places and feeding styles. Another aspect of tracking is the actual ability to follow an animal along the trail it has left as it moved through a natural environment. Eventually, as your knowledge of the species increases, it no longer becomes necessary to follow print by print or sign by sign. You begin to interpret the behaviour of the creature from the signs you have already seen, and you can begin to predict, with varying degrees of accuracy, where it will go, why it is going there and how it will do this. This speculative ability takes many years of tracking, observing and interpreting to achieve, but is definitely the most rewarding level of understanding attainable between a tracker and his quarry. How did the animal move? This is often useful to an experienced tracker in the identification of the species at hand. The basic use of this question can help you differentiate between bounding, hopping, striding, registering, walking, shuffling, running, side-trotting and many other movement styles or gaits more information on these gaits can be found in the glossary. Then, having noted the distance between signs, you can develop an impression of how large the stride or jump was, and thus assess the potential size of the animal. Often a particular gait is associated with a particular creature, such as a bipedally-hopping springhare, or bounding as with a scrub hare. Habitat also plays a major role in identification of spoor and sign of some creatures, but can be misleading as animals will occasionally range out of their typical habitat. So, now that we have a more complete picture of some of the aspects that comprise the art of tracking, we can go back to our original question about the actual origin of tracking. It is plausible to assume that our ancient ancestors, and even other species of Hominid, began to recognise the shapes of important tracks, such as those which meant a possibility of food or I suppose, more importantly, imminent danger. Perhaps the track of a dangerous, but highly valued, food item such as the elephant may have been an early part of this tracking development. Perhaps, by watching scavenging birds such as vultures descending on a carcass, they learned that this meant a possible source of food, if they could only displace the current owner of the carcass. This is a practice followed today by lions, hyenas and even humans in some regions, so there should be no reason why ancient men or man-like creatures should not have used these signs. Perhaps by following the sounds of rutting animals the ancient hunter might have been able to locate food in the form of an antelope ram. When this all began is impossible to say, but for all of recorded history there has been some type of interpretation of tracks with extensive documentation of animal tracks and shapes of spoor in our southern African rock art dating to times immemorial. There is much evidence indicating that one of our relatives, Homo erectus, hunted game, presumably by using a form of persistence hunting, or literally running the game down. This points to a form of systematic tracking being employed as much as 2 million years ago here in southern Africa. Homo sapiens, as a species, dates back more than years here in southern Africa, and it is widely believed that we have been tracking in a speculative manner for most of this time. Recent evidence of bow-and-arrow usage dates back more than 70 years in South Africa, which also implies heavily the use of tracking in order to find game. Rock art in southern Africa dates back to very ancient cultures, such as the Matopan culture of southern Zimbabwe. Rock art dating back 27 years has also been found in southern Namibia. Many sites such as Twyfelfontein in Namibia and sites in the Limpopo Vhembe region of Venda have beautifully sculpted engravings of animal tracks, many of which are so accurate in terms of detail that the actual species being depicted can be identified! This gives one a clear impression of the different signs that parts of the bodies of man and animals leave behind when they have passed. Needless to say, it is an ancient art, with speculative tracking being cited as the very Origin of Science. The methodical linking of track to animal, identifying it as a species from this abstract sign and then knowing Page 3
what the animal itself will mean to you and your family in terms of danger or food is a skillset still in use today. Page 4
Chapter 3 : The Mammals of Southern African and their Tracks & Signs flipping preview by Jacana Media - This First Field Guide to Animal Tracks of Southern Africa will help those with an interest in interpreting animal tracks to identify the animals that have passed through an area. Wikipedia pages formatted for iphone display Recommendations: About R Download 2. The Kingdon Guide to African Mammals It is seen as an essential field guide for anyone traveling to and living in Africa, with an interest in wildlife, of course. This application by mydigitalearth. The Audubon African Wildlife app contains in-depth information on mammal species, birds species and 24 species of reptiles, providing fantastic high-quality images and range maps. This app by Green Mountain Digital includes: Professional color photographs for every species high quality Detailed range maps showing species distribution In-depth descriptions of species, with accurate information on appearance, habitat, and more Real time access anywhere - without internet connection Search by shape, family or common name Information about the biogeography of Africa An extensive list of where to see wildlife by countries and game reserves Detailed reference information on the IUCN status of wildlife detailing type of threat Use on: About R Download 4. Sasol ebirds of Southern Africa Browse through species Images, distribution maps and text descriptions of over bird species found in the Southern African region. Regional selection in Southern Africa to show birds in your chosen region Compare two birds on one screen including calls to see them side-by-side Save function for personal bird lists on your device can be exported via email A Bird Index in common names in English and Afrikaans or with Scientific bird names Use on: The app features a live map of game sightings in various safari areas, such as Kruger Park, and allows you share add wildlife sightings instantly and easily. The application is really useful on safari and in wildlife conservation research. Live app by Satpack Travel includes: Extensive reference materials - safari animal field guide, tips and contacts for safari travel Live maps, photos and sighting locations Database input - app catalogues, analyses and shares data with conservation organisations to support wildlife audits Main Features: Android and Apple Smartphones Price: This app is a great resource for nature lovers visiting any part of the Southern African region. Wildlife of Southern Africa includes the following categories: Spiders and other arachnids. Page 5