Spoor (animal)
Spoor is any sign of a creature or trace by which the progress of someone or something may be followed. Spoor includes track, scents, animal foot or hoof trails, and scat. Spoor is useful for discovering or surveying what types of animals live in an area, or in animal tracking.
The word originated c. 1823, from Afrikaans spoor, from Middle Dutch spor, which is cognate with Old English spor "footprint, track, trace" and modern English language spurn (as in ankle).[1] It is cognate also with spur, the metal tool on the heels of riding boots.
Generally droppings can be referred to as scat. Certain scat are called different things; rabbit scat is normally called rabbit pellets, while ungulate scat is referred to as droppings or manure.
Spoor, a long time ago, was used in hunting. The hunters would stick their finger in the animal's scat, and if it was cold it meant the animal was far and if it was warm it meant the animal was close.
A spoor may include such things as tracks, trails, scents, droppings, or broken branches. People use spooring in hunting and tracking.
By analogy, in politics, "to look carefully on the spoor in the trails" means to investigate what is actually going on in a sensitive situation.[2]
See also [edit]
Notes [edit]
- ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=spoor Online Etymology Dictionary]
- ^ Alan S. Chartock (April 15, 2013). "The only way out of this mess is term limits" (April 16, 2013). Legislative Gazette. p. 4. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
