wildlife wednesday - black bears

By Andy Ames

Bare footing in the park, or should we say “bear footing”. Bear tracks are a pretty rare sight in the Estes Valley for several reasons. For one, their wide flat feet disperse their weight well leaving little impression, especially on our hard packed trails. Another reason? There really aren’t that many bears around. What can we learn from these tracks? The wide straddle, or distance between the right and left tracks, indicate a slow walker. The pigeon toed stride tells us it walks with elbows out. Large toes on the outside tells us it walks in a bow-legged fashion, placing more weight on the outside of the foot. You can almost visualize it walking down the trail.

Black bears are one of the most intriguing animals of the Estes Valley. Please join us tomorrow night, Thursday, June 15th where we will talk about these amazing animals.

Bear tracks are a pretty rare find in the Estes Valley. Our trails are typically so hard and bear’s weight is so well dispersed that foot prints rarely even register.

Black Bear front right print. The interdigital pad, or the imprint behind the toes, is wedge shaped, with the wider part on the outside. Bears have 5 toes front and rear. With no opposable thumb, bear have limited dexterity but still great strength and grip. Nails rarely register unless on a soft surface.

The eerily human print from a Black bear’s rear foot. The rear feet are plantigrade meaning the whole foot makes contact with the ground, heal to toe. A little hard to tell from this track but unlike our feet, the big toe is on the outside so this would be a left.

Big toe on the outside — left rear.

If you missed the in-person presentation then be sure to check out our YouTube channel for a recording out soon! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrmNcWSIdV21PCgKea-fE4Q