Gait Patterns in Snow—a Possible Criterion to Differentiate Sika Deer and Japanese Serow Tracks

There is a compelling need to develop user-friendly and sensitive techniques monitor sika deer (Cervus nippon) populations in snowy regions, where initial stages of invasion have been observed. In snow, we can easily detect footsteps terrestrial mammals, which often serve as useful index population size. Here, examined the possibility identifying tracks with similar hoof prints left by two sympatric ungulates, Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus), using gait patterns. We then recorded free-ranging serows on snow following ∼200-km survey routes Tohoku region. successfully patterns 27 34 serows. Our key findings were follows: 1) step width (mean SE, 20.3 ± 0.7 cm) was substantially narrower than that (26.9 0.8 cm); 2) less body size ground conditions for both species; 3) 22.5 cm became an optimal threshold maintain reasonable classification accuracy (> 80%) species. Thus, possible criterion these ungulates.