Late Cretaceous tracks attributable to deinonychosaurs in North America are rare, with only one occurrence of Menglongipus from Alaska and two possible, but indeterminate, occurrences reported from Mexico. Here we describe the first probable deinonychosaur tracks from Canada: a possible trackway and one isolated track on a single horizon from the Upper Cretaceous Wapiti Formation (upper Campanian) near Grande Prairie in Alberta. The presence of a relatively short digit IV differentiates these from argued dromaeosaurid tracks, suggesting the trackmaker was more likely a troodontid. Other noted characteristics of the Wapiti specimens include a rounded heel margin, the absence of a digit II proximal pad impression, and a broad, elliptical digit III. Monodactyl tracks occur in association with the didactyl tracks, mirroring similar discoveries from the Early Cretaceous Epoch of China, providing additional support for their interpretation as deinonychosaurian traces. Although we refrain from assigning the new Wapiti specimens to any ichnotaxon because of their relatively poor undertrack preservation, this discovery is an important addition to the deinonychosaur track record; it helps to fill a poorly represented geographic and temporal window in their known distribution, and demonstrates the presence of a greater North American deinonychosaur ichnodiversity than has previously been recognized.

Recent research has established that south Scandinavia during the Nordic Bronze Age was entirely dependent on imported metal. It was obviously in contact with other parts of Europe and must have participated in a system of long-distance exchange. It is not clear how it would have operated, but it helps to explain the importance of watercraft and drawings of distinctive artefacts in the rock art on the Baltic and Atlantic coasts. A different group of images can be associated with inland areas where the art has a more restricted lexicon. Can the borderland between these traditions shed any light on the relationship between the seashore and the interior, and might this help to identify places where artefacts changed hands? This paper presents the results of fieldwork between Lakes Vänern and Vättern in Västra Götaland county, southern Sweden. It considers the character of inland rock art and whether some locations with more complex panels were used as ‘aggregation sites’.

The Scandinavian landscape is littered with postglacial outcrops, many of which carry engraved motifs. Although drawings of ships are most often discussed, this paper focuses on representations of feet. In Northern Europe ship motifs are often associated with cosmologies based on the movement of the sun. This paper investigates whether drawings of feet could have been associated with the same worldview. A number of interpretations are offered of the images at two sites in different parts of Sweden: Järrestad 13:1 and Boglösa 138:1.

We compare theropod footprints with elongate metatarsal prints from central Italy with known autopod structures in major theropod groups, in order to more accurately define the trackmaker attribution. Our work, using morphometric analysis, shows the considerable potential of explorative methods such as PCA (principal component analysis) and cluster analysis when describing important characters for a given taxonomic group (body and ichnofossils) and identifying important anatomical regions. Moreover, the results of the analysis suggest that the putative trackmaker is likely a member of Ornithomimosauria, with significant affinities in the posterior autopod structure with the genus Struthiomimus. The fundamental importance of integrating both osteological and ichnological data, when investigating locomotor and behavioural hypotheses, is highlighted. This approach could also contribute positively to the complex cognitive process of trackmaker identification and be favourable for the attainment of a more natural definition of ichnotaxa.

An objective multivariate technique is described for identification of individual tigers Panthera tigris from their pugmarks. Tracings and photographs of hind pugmarks were obtained from 23 pugmark-sets of 19 individually known tigers (17 wild and two captive tigers). These 23 pugmark-sets were then divided into two groups, one of 15 pugmark-sets for model building and another of eight pugmark-sets for model testing and validation. A total of 93 measurements were taken from each pugmark along with three gait measurements. We used CV ratio, F-ratio and removed highly correlated variables to finally select 11 variables from these 93 variables. These 11 variables did not differ between left and right pugmarks. Stepwise discriminant function analysis (DFA) based on these 11 variables correctly classified pugmark-sets to individual tigers. A realistic population estimation exercise was simulated using the validation dataset. The algorithms developed here correctly allocated each pugmark-set to the correct individual tiger. The effect of extraneous factors, i.e. soil depth and multiple tracers, was also tested and pugmark tracings compared with pugmark photographs. We recommend collecting pugmarks from soil depths ranging between 0.5 and 1.0 cm, and advocate the use of pugmark photographs rather than pugmark tracings to eliminate the chance of obtaining substandard data from untrained tracers. Our study suggests that tigers can be individually identified from their pugmarks with a high level of accuracy and pugmark-sets could be used for population estimation of tigers within a statistically designed mark–recapture framework.

American mink Mustela vison are an invasive species in many parts of the world (e.g. Europe, Iceland and South America) and in many of these areas they are a threat to the native wildlife. It is therefore important to establish a reliable and efficient method to estimate their relative abundance in order to manage their populations. In this study, the use of surveys of signs (scats and footprints) as a way to estimate the relative abundance of American mink was evaluated. Populations of mink in three areas of England were studied to evaluate the impact of three factors (surveyor, marking places and month) on the probability of deposition and detection of signs. Among these factors only month had a significant effect. In the second part of the study, sign surveys were compared with live trapping and it was found that the proportion of sections with mink signs was only loosely correlated to the abundance of mink as estimated from live trapping. In conclusion, this study suggests that, provided that surveyors are trained, that there is a sufficient number of marking places in each section, and that the surveys are carried out in comparable seasons, sign surveys are an appropriate way to monitor the relative abundance of mink. Sign surveys are better than trapping when it is necessary to monitor mink populations over large areas because they are less time consuming, require less manpower and are cheaper.

Jerdon's courser Rhinoptilus bitorquatus is a nocturnal cursorial bird that is now only known from a small area of scrub jungle in Andhra Pradesh, India. Its population size, distribution and habitat requirements are poorly known because of its elusive habits. We conducted a trial of a survey method that involved deploying an array of 5 m long tracking strips consisting of smoothed fine soil, and checking them for footprints at regular intervals. We developed diagnostic methods for distinguishing the footprints of Jerdon's courser from those of other species. Tracks of Jerdon's courser were obtained on about one strip-night in 30 from areas where the species was known to be present. We suggest a procedure for using tracking strips to survey areas where Jerdon's courser has not yet been detected. The use of tracking strips carries a small risk of misidentification of footprints of other species, especially yellow-wattled lapwing Vanellus malarbaricus, as those of Jerdon's courser, but has the advantage that large areas can be surveyed without the use of expensive equipment or night-time fieldwork. We recommend the use of automatic camera traps to obtain confirmation of records of probable Jerdon's courser footprints.