Unknown mammal prints on Brownsea Island

[kingrichard]

Can anyone identify these prints for me? I've checked the Mammal reference section and cannot see any which are too similar.



To give you some context, the photo was taken on Brownsea Island on one of the beaches, on one side of a stream running to the sea. Further down the beach were other similar prints and at one point it looked like a flurry of activity, maybe a struggle.

[Dogghound]

How big are they?

[kingrichard]

The prints were approximately 4-5 cm wide. It was difficult to see a whole foot pad to gauge the size, it's weight seemed to have been on the claws at the front for the most part.

[Dogghound]

They are from a mustelid. Probrably an otter although could be a mink. A widths spread would be 4cm max and an otters would be about 6cm wide. Since this shows only part of the foot I would have though otter the most likely.

[The Woodman]

Agreed Dogghound.

Looks like a pair of Otters front feet and the size would fit the bill. Differing substrates can distort what is shown in the books. Your image looks like softish sand and the animals use a bounding form of locomotion resulting in pairs of prints.

I took this image this morning on soft estuarine mud over hard rock. These prints were made by an adult male who put his right foot down after his left, overlapping the prints.