According to Wikipedia, “Gait is the pattern of movement of the limbs of animals, including humans, during locomotion over a solid substrate.” Understanding these different patterns will inform us of how quickly the animal is moving, so a useful skill in tracking and trailing.
You might want to take a look at this post about measuring animal tracks first.
Walking
This is the slowest gait and is generally adopted by an animal moving at a leisurely pace, it might even be feeding as it goes. When an animal is walking it moves one limb at a time, often with a short stride length. The hind (back) foot is placed close to the fore (front) foot, and can be positioned just in front of the fore foot, just behind the fore foot or on top of the fore foot.
Fore print is shown in blue | hind print is shown in gold
Trotting/running
In a trot or run the stride length increases, the straddle decreases and the individual tracks can leave a deeper impression (where ground conditions allow). Trotting is an energy efficient gait allowing the animal to move quickly but not tire.
The animal moves two limbs at the same time, the fore leg on one side and the hind leg on the other. If the ground is firm then the hind foot will generally be placed in front of the fore foot.
Fore print is shown in blue | hind print is shown in gold
Galloping
A gallop is an animal moving at high speed and typically the individual tracks leave a deep impression.
All four feet are off the ground at the same time at some point in the stride. Typically the individual tracks are almost in a line and evenly spread.
Fore print is shown in blue | hind print is shown in gold
Bounding or jumping
Jumping involves an animal pushing off the ground with its hind legs so that it pushes itself foward and then lands on its fore legs, usually with one fore leg striking the ground before the other. The fore legs carry the animal forward a short distance before the hind legs land on the ground, a little further forward than the fore legs.
Jump length is the distance from one foot to the next point that same foot strikes the ground.
Fore print is shown in blue | hind print is shown in gold
Studying gaits is something we do on our Tracking & Nature Awareness course.
You can see loads of photos from this course, as well as all of our others, on our Facebook page.
