Look at these footprints in the mud. Which animal might had left these marks? 1 2 3 The three sets of footprints pressed into the mud beside the pond.

Question

Accepted Answer

Arya asks this at the pond, and Sarthak answers: “Hmm… maybe a deer or a tiger? Or, a rabbit?”

Read the shapes to make your own guess.

Footprint	What the shape tells us	Our guess
1	A round pad with four toe marks above it, and no claw marks	A big cat, such as a tiger
2	Small prints, wide at one end and drawn to a point at the other	A hoofed animal, such as a deer
3	Three thin toes spread out like a star, with one short toe behind	A bird, such as an egret or a crane

Why footprints are useful: Many animals come to drink and go away. Their feet press marks into the soft mud. By reading the marks we can tell who came, even when we never saw the animal.

Note about the book: The book prints “Which animal might had left these marks?” on page 42. The correct English is “which animal might have left these marks?”. This is a printing mistake in the book, not a new rule.

NCERT Solutions for Class 4th The World Around Us Chapter 3 At the Pond — In-text Questions