substrate

The surface on which a track is printed — mud, sand, dust, snow, wet leaves, dry leaves, duff, gravel, bare <a href="https://rewilding.mx/word/mineral-soil/" class="word-autolink">mineral soil. Substrate determines everything about what a track looks like and how long it lasts. The same animal leaves a crisp, detailed print in wet silt and an unreadable scuff in dry pine needles. Learning to track is largely learning to read substrates — knowing what each surface can and cannot record.