How to identify animal tracks, burrows and other signs of wildlife in your neighborhood

A paw print in baked mud at Joshua Tree National Park, likely from a coyote. Brad Sutton/National Park Service

Your neighborhood is home to all sorts of amazing animals, from racoons, squirrels and skunks to birds, bugs and snails. Even if you don’t see them, most of these creatures are leaving evidence of their activities all around you.

Paw prints in different shapes and sizes are clues to the visitors who pass through. The shapes of tunnels and mounds in your yard carry the mark of their builders.