I con my students to follow me around doing lots of things but I don’t think many would have been up for such an activity before school officially starts back up.

As the caption says, they are, from left to right, from Blarina in the snow, Deermouse, Meadow Mouse, and Masked Shrew.

It was a question though not a statement and asked based on the evidence I had at hand. As you will still see along the beginning of the Blarina track sketch that I posted, there is still a line between the first four foot prints (assumed to be produced by a tail and not dragging of the feet in some manner – and assuming that the sketch was done by a credible observer).

Are you sure your observations (memory) aren’t being clouded by your expectations based on the common name of the animal?

I think short in this case is a relative term. The images I find using google suggest that this animal could potentially produce a tail line. Wiki says the tails range from 0.7 to 1.3 inches in length.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Short-tailed_Shrew

Thus, how could a 1.3 inch tail not make a mark in the snow?

Give me the GPS coordinates and I’ll give my students an assignment to find evidence that short-tailed shrews can produce a tail line as well. : )

Could you see the tail drag line? Here is a link I found from the Boy Scout Handbook with some shrew track images, and they all suggest that a tail drag line should be evident. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29558/29558-h/images/p0198pic1.jpg

The link you posted was nice too (I finally got a flicker account). Makes me what to get out there and see what I can find. Well, maybe once the temperature rises a little bit…

I have to agree, based on these images. In fact, based on the size and all, I would say this is a Blarina sp.

btw, Shrews are plantigrade (flat-footed).

Here’s a link to some purported shrew tracks form Ontario. He suggests they are shrew tracks–again a good hypothesis. If you look through Ontario Wanderer’s photostream you’ll note that he is learning his tracks too. (Just search on tracks.)

“You will seldom find shrew tracks except in snow”… “The shrew trail will measure about 1 inch in width”… “In soft snow the shrew has a habit shared by several other mammals. It will dive in and travel under the snow.”

There were other tracks that I did not photograph—in a tell-tale 2 x 2 pattern–that mostly eliminates the mouse possibilities. This is one neat critter for NE KS. BTW, I went back out to the Arboretum, yesterday and the network of track sign now covers about 1.5 acres.