What's Your Nature?

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The Chase

Posted by Patrick Lawlor,
North Country explorer from Amherst, Massachusetts
April 10, 2013

In the sand in some woods by power lines, canine footprints are captured trailing the prints of a cottontail rabbit. I followed the trail of their footprints for probably about 200 yards, when eventually the prints led into some grass that was too compact to have prints in it. Following the path, it seemed like the chase was a wild scramble resembling a roller coaster ride. This is because when a cottontail rabbit is being chased by a larger predator such as a dog, it uses it's size to change directions quickly and lose the predator coming after them. I was never able to figure out if the rabbit got caught, but seeing the remnants of this epic chase was really cool.