How do you know which animals are around if you can’t see them? Find the clues that they have left behind!

Here, we will explore and investigate through a quiz game who has left tracks and signs in the forest. Scroll down, read the questions, watch the videos and photos, search for the clues and CLICK on the possible answers on the right and a pop-up window will appear with an explanation. Have fun!

Who has been laying here?

An animal has been laying and rolling on the ground. It looks like it really enjoyed the moment and it left some clues...which animal has left all these signs? (Click on the answer)

1. Fox

Yes, a fox has been here! The hair it left is probably from the tail or tummy. Like dogs and cats, foxes love to roll on a fresh ground. This helps them to clean their hair and skin from possible parasites.

2. Deer

The marking on the ground is not made by a deer, as it is too small, and the footprint of a deer is very different.

3. Badger

Badgers hair has a different colour (its black, white and grey) and the footprint has a different shape and size.

Trails on the wood

Many old branches have been found on the ground with trails left by an animal under the bark. They look like works of art! Guess who did them (CLICK on the answer)

1. Long-horn beetle

It is not from the long-horn beetle. Its larva usually create larger tunnels which have different pattern

2. Woodworm beetle

Yes it is. Their larva excavate the wood with their jaws and create these patterns.

3. Ants

Certain ant species live and move under tree barks, but don’t create these types of tunnels

A mysterious nest

Have you seen that? An underground nest was found in the forest. Can you guess which animal did it? (CLICK on the answer)

1. Bird

Yes this is the right answer. The bird who built the nest and laid the eggs is a Robin. Robins build their nest in hidden places and use animal hair, e.g. horse or wild board hair, to make the inside of the nest soft and then they camouflage it with moss.

2. Lizard

Lizards lay eggs usually under the ground or leaves and don’t build nests

Signs on trees

It looks like that some animals have pass by this area and left their signs on the trees. Who has been here? (CLICK on the answer)

1. Deers

yes, deers (and probably another animal species – see answer below) have been in the area and probably come here often to rub their body against the trunk of the tree and chew the bark.

2. Hedgehogs

hedgehogs don’t leave these signs on the trunk of the tree and are too small to reach that high

3. Wild boars

Wild boars (and another animal species – see answer below) have been rubbing their body on the trunk of the tree and left signs of mud on the bark. They love to do baths in the mud to clean themselves from parasites.

Entrance to a house

At the base of an old and rotten tree there is a house of an animal. There are two holes, maybe a main entrance and an exit one. Who is living here? (CLICK on the answer)

1. Rabbit

rabbits do live in homes under the ground, often in grassland areas where are not easy to be seen by their predators. This is not the case because its in an open area in the woods.

2. Fox

Foxes often take abandoned houses or setts of badgers to live in and breed. This might be the case, no other signs of foxes have been found in the area.

3. Badger

Badgers excavate underground up to 4-8 meters below. This might be the entrance to their home.

A fallen nest

This is an old nest fallen from a tree and found on the ground, but it is not of a bird. Who built it then? (CLICK on the answer)

1. Squirrel

Yes, it is of a squirrel! They often build houses, sometimes inside tree cavities or between branches. Their nest is used only for a few months, then they construct another one for the winter or for the breeding season.

2. Mouse

mice do build nests, but are smaller than this one and are round.

This is an egg found on the ground. It has been taken away from a song thrush nest and laid on the moss to be eaten. The moss has served to fix it so that it could not roll away while the animal ate its inside. Which animal could have done that? (CLICK on the answer).

1. Bird

Yes, birds can eat eggs of other bird species. The signs they leave are distinguishable. They often break the middle of the egg to suck the yolk inside. In this case, the bird predator could have been a jay or a crow. These species are very common in the forest, and go around nests in search of food.

2. Small mammal

Small animals, like weasels or martens, search for bird nests to eat eggs and also chicks. They usually eat the whole egg or leave pieces of shells laying around. This is not the case.

3. Fox

Foxes do eat eggs of birds, usually of those who nest near or on the ground. In this case, it was not a fox, because song thrushes build nests 1 meter or more above the ground. Too high for a fox to reach. Moreover, foxes eat the whole egg or leave bits of shells around the nest.

A borrow hole was found in the forest, in front of it there were large chunks of hair of a hunted wild rabbit. Who do you think is living inside the borrow? (CLICK on the answer).

1. Badger

The borrow might have been digged by a badger. Badgers often excavate up to 2-10 meters below the ground and create tunnels, sometimes their house is taken by other animals. The hair found near the burrow entrance might be of a rabbit. The animal who ate it is living inside the borrow, and it is not the badger because it eats small mammals (plus earthworms, fruits, roots, etc).

2. Fox

This is the right answer. Fox usually eat their meals in front or aorund their house, called 'den'. They usually leave bones, fur, feathers and other bod parts of the animals they prey in the area where they have their den.

3. Weasel

It was not a weasel, because the hole is too big, they often choose small holes where to hide and nest. Moreover, weasels do eat small animals, like mice, birds, etc. but wild rabbits are too big to catch.

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An animal has eaten this leaf and left its track. Who did it? search for the clues in the photo (CLICK on the answer).

1. Insect

Many different species of insects eat leaves, and many times is also possible to identify the species according to how it has been eating the leaf (e.g. if it has left a round shape or an empty spot in the middle and so on). This is not the case, no insect eat this leaf.

2. Snail/Slug

Yes, snails and slugs love to eat leaves! Actually, they first scrub the leaf with their 25,000 teeth and then swallow. Two important clues are left behind: the slime and the main vein of the leaf left intact. If you look more in detail, you can see dried slime along the leaf. They don’t eat the veins because they are probably too hard to scrub away.

This trail is well used by an animal. Can you identify the animal by the hair it left on the fence? (CLICK on the answer).

1. Fox

Yes, this trail is used by a fox. It uses it very often to cross the forest and go to a nearby field in search of food. The hair that has been left on the fence is red and long, typical of a fox.

2. Dog

There are dogs in the area taken for a walk by their owners. However, the hole under the fence is too small for a dog to go through. This trail is of another animal

3. Cat

Cats do love to travel in search of mice or small mammals around inhabited areas. In this case, the area where this was found is quite far away from houses and the hair left is probably too dark of being of a cat. This trail is used by another animal