pugmark

noun

pug·​mark ˈpəg-ˌmärk 

: footprint

specifically : the footprint of a wild mammal (such as tiger or leopard)

… all he'd found were a pair of legs and a few red traces in the snow, surrounded by the pugmarks of a tigress.

—Peter Matthiessen

Examples of pugmark in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But the field staff of the forest department showed me the evidence: fresh pugmarks (paw prints) at the side of a field, in courtyards and in school playgrounds; kills hanging in trees; dogs missing or injured; a dead pig here and there. —Vidya Athreya, Scientific American, 27 Mar. 2023

Russia’s researchers have counted Siberian tigers’ pugmarks—the same technique that led to India’s pre-2008 overestimates. —National Geographic, 20 Apr. 2016

The previous method used spoor (paw prints, also called pugmarks, and scat), which often led to the same animal being counted multiple times. —National Geographic, 20 Apr. 2016

Word History

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined above