Animal Tracks

I’ve developed something of an obsession with animals tracks of all kinds, but especially those of sea creatures. They often look like writing or drawing. A friend’s four-year-old son used to ask her, “What does it say?” when he’d see “animal writing” in crisscrossing worm tracks in mud, like those in the second image.

Throughout the course of my walking projects, I’ve been surprised again and again to discover the tracks of sea creatures that I’ve always assumed were sessile, or fixed in place, like chitons.

I’ve seen hearts, spades, spirals, exes, zig-zags, even a goose face (see fifth image).

One early morning, Jesse and I went to my favorite local beach to explore a low tide and the sand was absolutely covered in tracks of crabs, sea snails, worms and other small travelers.

I was so drawn to them that I could barely participate in our discussion. After several unsubtle interruptions where I simply had to follow tracks to see where they led or stop and study a pattern, Jesse finally said, “Oh my God Angelica, you are like a 7th grader with a crush who can’t think about anything else.” We’ve been friends for forty-five years so there’s plenty of room for occasional distraction and a little lighthearted chiding.