Beast of Bolivia Track
Posted by: Loren Coleman on December 16th, 2007
What is it? Felid? Canid? Unknown? Identify the mystery imprint.
The first image shown is the track of the so-called “Beast of Bolivia.”
The following ones are various felid, canid, and other track images shown for comparison.
What do you think the animal is that made the first track?
The Beast of Bolivia imprint compared to a human hand.
Dog track.
Puma or mountain lion track.
Comparison of felid tracks.
Canid vs felid tracks.
Felid vs canid tracks.
Bear tracks.
Coyote tracks.
Coyote tracks.
Raccoon track.
Otter tracks.
Thanks to “Mnynames” for pointing out where to find the first image.
The apparent claws and general symetry of the track would definetly suggest a canid.
Definitely coyote. I have no doubts now.
Interesting.
It is definitely canid. I am inclined to agree, a big coyote or coy-dog. The triangle at the back of the print defines it as canid.
Sure looks like a coyote, too small for a wolf. Very helpful update…thanks.
Wow, after seeing that track, I am more convinced now than ever that we are dealing with coyotes or a feral dog. That sure looks like a canid track to me.
Agreed. It sure looks like the hind foot of a coyote. Possibly a coy-dog or maybe just a feral dog. Coyotes in the east get much larger than they do in the Plains and Desert Southwest - food is a lot more abundant for them.
I appears to be too large for a coyote… my guess domestic dog
It looks like a cougar/wolf hybrid… Kidding. Honestly, it’s not a very clear print. I can’t even see pads. It could be almost anything.
The toes look kinda small and the pad looks kinda long. Could it be a big mustelid? Wolverines, for instance. I suppose a trackway would go some distance towards identifiying the imprint.
The track is not too large for a coyote and is actually well within the size range for a coyote track. Coyotes typically leave tracks that are between 2.5 and 3.5 inches long, which makes these perfectly reasonable for a coyote. Wolf tracks on the other hand, are usually over 4 inches long. The evidence points to these being of a coyote or feral dog. Also, feral dogs would likely leave behind tracks of varying sizes whereas coyote tracks would be mostly uniform in size, so I’m wondering if there were other tracks in the area.
I sure would like to know more about the condition of the slain dog’s body. If this was the work of wolves or a cougar, we could expect to see a pretty clear attack pattern indicative of their species. In contrast, feral dogs will attack indiscriminately, nipping and biting everywhere. If the body was randomly bitten all over and shredded up, that to me would point towards feral dogs.
Another thing that might be of importance is the droppings found in the area. If coyotes did this, the droppings would be of basically uniform size and shape, whereas a group of feral dogs would probably leave behind dropping of different sizes.
I am thinking that with what we have to go on, feral dogs are a very good candidate as the culprit. They are widespread, bold, and can be highly aggressive, and display little to no fear of humans. This makes them quite dangerous, and feral dogs would have no reservations about raiding areas where humans live or attacking other dogs. I suppose the same thing could mostly be said for coyotes too. Since feral dogs tend to have favored dens and rendezvous points, very much like wolves, that could explain why there have been other attacks in the area. If there is such a rendezvous point or den in the area, I’m afraid we can expect to see more attacks like this in the future.
Feral dogs or coyotes are the two most likely culprits, in my opinion.
Otter.
No really, it looks most like a coyote track, long and pointed. Its not spread like a dog or cat, or rounded like a bear.
My first thought upon seeing the pic, was fox. Though that would be a gigantic fox. I’d be curious to see a wolverine’s track shown, too.
Coydog?
… a wolverine? or a badger?
It’s a whatzit track most definately!
It is too small to be wolf. And definately a rear paw print. Either Coyote, feral dog or coyote-dog hybrid.
If the print was made on mud, clay or snow then the animal would be one of two types: 1) certain known; 2) certain unknown. Since the print has been made on ground that does not preserve detail, the animal is “certain unidentifiable” since it can be one of many Canid types.
Actually I disagree with the coyote assumption based on the track size. I think the track is larger then people are realizing. Assuming the man in the picture is of average size (let’s say 50th percentile male from the 1988 army survey) his hand breadth is about 3.56 inches taken from that survey. Taking that assumption, the track is at least 4.30 inches long when you do the math/geometry on the photo. Most wolf tracks are between 4.25 and 4.75 inches long. This easily could be a wolf. It’s a very large canine at the very least.
Cheers
Not cat. Canid - dog, coyote, or coydog.
Some coyotes here in the East are pretty big animals. I have seen coyotes that were as big as a good-sized Dobie or German Shepherd.
A gray wolf track is much bigger, for the size of the individual animal, than a dog’s or coyote’s track would be, and that track just is not proportioned like a gray wolf’s track. I think that red wolves are rare enough to be eliminated from consideration.
My first impression was coyote, or maybe coydog, but the more likely animal would be just plain dog.
Leibolmai- But the original report said the tracks were 3 inches long.
Looks almost exactly like the coyote tracks pictured lower in the article, so I’m going with that…
Canid of some kind, most likely a stray dog since they are all around it could almost be anything.
Honestly? Given the poor quality, erosion, etc. could be a medium sized canid, or a small primate’s hand (flat, but fingers closed). A single track is hard to read. A series speaks volumes.