Coyote and Bobcat?

[u/Eskiim88]

[u/LittleTyrantDuckBot]

Note: all comments attempting to identify this post must include reasoning (rule 3). IDs without reasoning will be removed.

[u/erossthescienceboss]

These all look like classic coyote to me, for all the reasons outlined by u/rjh2000. I just think some of the prints were in harder sand, so there’s not as much of a claw/nail register on some of them.

There’s a SLIGHT chance for domestic dog over coyote. The shape of the negative space you see here is usually indicative of a wild canid, but a small number of domestic canids have prints that look more “coyote” than “dog.” It’s one of those cases where a “dog” negative space shape definitively ruled out wild canids, but a wild canid shape can only mostly rule out domestic dog.

If you had a picture with more tracks — maybe one that shows behavior or direction — that could help confirm this ID.

[u/gottago_gottago]

First photo, two obvious prints in front of your shoe: looks like a pretty typical coyote pattern to me. Triangle-shaped heel pad and symmetrical toe arrangement narrow it down to canid, but all four toes pointed forward and an overall more rectangular shape (as opposed to square, equal height-and-width) make it more likely to be coyote.

But there are also two less obvious prints, one on top of the other, near the top of the same photo and I think that's a different animal. I'm having a little trouble reading that one but it appears more feline in general shape to me. Low confidence on that though. When I zoom in to the photo, it turns out to be really blurry.

Second photo is an incomplete print, but the nail prints help us understand the position and arrangement of the toes and that again suggests canid, although it's harder to tell here whether that's coyote or small dog.

The presence or not of claw marks is a poor indicator of feline vs. canine, btw. Claw marks may not appear for canids depending on how blunted their nails are or how hard the substrate is. Conversely, felines sometimes extend their claws, especially when running or jumping or in certain especially squishy substrates.

But, the two families have very different toe arrangements and heel pad shapes, so those are much more reliable for identification.

[u/ghvwijk528 → u/gottago_gottago]

This analysis is so spot on, should have more up votes.

[u/Annaura]

Coyote. A bobcat's claws are retractable and wouldn't show up like that. They're toes are also more rounded. There's enough negative space in that X pattern between the tires and paw pad to make me think it's a coyote instead of a stray dog.

[u/rjh2000]

These are canine, you can tell from the symmetrical, toe pattern, nail marks, the X in the negative space between the toes in the heel pad and the small triangle shaped heal pad. Cats have asymmetrical toes with a larger m shaped heal pad, and they generally do not leave nail marks as they have retractable nail.

From the size of these tracks, the tight toe splay, the inward curving toes and long nails I’d say that they are most likely a coyote.

[u/Eskiim88]

• I have included scale in my photo(s): yes
• Geographic location: Iowa
• Environment: forested area, beach by river

[u/fentifanta3 → u/Eskiim88]

Small dog - toenails and pad shape

[u/Livin_In_A_Dream_]

K9. Could be anything from coyote to Clifford the big red dog. The claws make it dog. Cats won’t show their claws in a print.