Footprints and Traces Course

On the first weekend of December 2023, Environmental Ideas was fortunate to take the “Footprints and Traces” course, taught by the naturalist Máximo Sánchez Cobo, in the town of Madridejos, in the province of Toledo, specifically in the “Valdeferro” Nature Classroom.

Máximo has a degree in topography, but he decided to dedicate himself to what since he was a child (only 9 years old) was and is his vocation; to nature. He went out to tour the fields and mountains and wondered about his surroundings; This is how he came to teach what he observed in a self-taught way, with his own audiovisual material and molds of all kinds of fingerprints obtained by himself.

The chosen place was the “Valdeferro” Nature Classroom, a place surrounded by Mediterranean forest (with coscojas, oaks, gall trees, cistus...), with replanting pine trees, olive groves and pasture.

The first day we arrived at night, where Máximo presented the course and each participant to us. During dinner, we shared anecdotes and above all a lot of laughs in the company of Máximo.

The next day, we woke up to the singing of various birds such as the European robin (Erithacus rubecula) and the common finch (Fringilla coelebs), with the bark of a roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and... with a few degrees below zero, because of this, the thin layer of ice (frost) could be observed, as if it were white grass rising, a beautiful image with the first rays of the sun.

Then we continued with the course, where we were able to learn, among many other things, that there is a “diagonal step” and a “walking step”, to differentiate whether an individual is walking, trotting or galloping due to the position of the mark of their footprints, to correctly measure a footprint, the types of substrate and to know by the type of footprint if it is a nocturnal bird of prey (among others).

We ate outside, where we could observe the majestic griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) and a pair of imperial eagles (Aquila adalberti), as well as listening to the jay (Garrulus glandarius) and the blackbird warning (Turdus merula).

Then, Máximo took us to explore the mountain, to put what we had learned into practice, looking for traces such as excrement, hair and footprints (among others). We found fox droppings (Vulpes vulpes), and wild boar tracks (Sus scrofa), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), deer (Cervus elaphus) and rent (Garrulus glandarius), of which some of them Máximo taught us to remove his mold.

Then we returned to the classroom to almost conclude the course. This time we learned to know how to differentiate mustelids such as the American mink by their traces (Neovison vison) and the turón (Mustela putorius), to felines such as the lynx (Lynx pardinus) and the wild cat (Felis silvestris), to deer such as roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), the fallow (Dama Dama) and the deer (Cervus elaphus), to mesomammals, to reptiles and to amphibians. And back to sharing anecdotes and laughs while we were recharging our batteries with dinner.

Máximo left for last “the icing on the cake”, which we would not discover until the next morning. Another field trip awaited us, making fingerprint molds and learning about canids and their traces, and a small “self-examination” with the hundreds of molds (he has half a thousand) made by Máximo throughout his experience.

On the field trip we picked up the molds from the previous afternoon and were able to make others by ourselves to take as a souvenir (with the help of Máximo, of course).

In class we learned (among many other things that cannot be summarized) to differentiate the footprints of a wolf (Canis lupus) with those of a dog (Canis familiaris), and these with those of a fox (Vulpes vulpes), and we also learned a lot about the brown bear (Ursus arctos).

As for the interaction with the molds, it is an excellent way of recognizing fingerprints and putting what we have learned into practice, in addition to giving opinions among colleagues what animal could be treated, putting ourselves to the test. It was fun while we were learning, and a lot.

We said goodbye with lots of smiles and hugs, with the hope of starting to put what we learned into practice and thus continue learning, because about nature you never stop learning.

Lucía García, Biodiversity