Is this a mountain lion track?
by Kevin
(San Diego)
Hiking in the morning to the summit of El Cajon mountain in San Diego...took a picture of this track.
Kevin
Hi Kevin.... sorry it has taken me an age to get back to you on this difficult question. That is why I took an age to get back to you!
Well, the track is obviously within the range of the puma or mountain lion.
For me the track is not distinct enough to say one way or the other.
Plus there are some odd impressions to the top left of the paw print. What caused those?
The pad on the paw is not shown in the track. On the basis of that alone I would say this is not a mountain lion track.
As the print is in soft sand and it is a clean print you would expect it to show the pad on the paw cleanly and you would not expect to see odd shaped prints to the top left.
Also the print looks like it is in wet sand and it looks fresh, very fresh. Rain water would wash away the print.
It looks wrong to me but I am not an expert. I would like a visitor, who is an expert and who has first hand experience to comment - please!
