According to a popular misconception, nature is" like an open book" to the expert tracker and such an expert needs only enough skill to" read everything that is written in the sand". A more appropriate analogy would be that the expert tracker must be able to" read between the lines". Trackers themselves cannot read everything in the sand. Rather, they must be able to read into the sand. To interpret tracks and signs trackers must project themselves into the position of the animal in order to create a hypothetical explanation of what the animal was doing. Tracking is not strictly empirical, since it also involves the tracker's imagination. Generally speaking, ore may argue that science is not only a product of objective observation of the world through en e perception. It is also a product of the human imagination. A creative hypothesis is not found or discovered in the outside world, it comes from within the human mind. If the an of tracking is indeed the origin of science, then gaining a better understanding of tracking may help to explain the phenomenal success of science. From an evolutionary point of view, the origin of the creative scientific imagination due to natural selection by nature may explain why it is so successful in nature. If it is assumed that the modern scientific brain has been adapted in part to the necessity of tracking down animals, what limitations, if any, does such a brain place on the modern scientist's understanding of nature? If modern physicists are thinking with a tracker's brain, how does this influence the theories they create in order to explain the fundamentals of nature? This book will not seek to provide full answers to such questions but rather confine itself to a description of tracking itself and its relation to modern science.

The study of the history of science involves fields ranging from the philo sophy and sociology of science to psychology and aesthetics (Holton, 1973). In contemplating the origin of science, and therefore science in its most basic form, this book will include elements from anthropology, archaeology and evolutionary biology. And while the similarities between tracking and modern science may suggest how science originated by means of biological evolution, the differences between them may give some indication of how science subsequently developed by means of cultural evolution. As perhaps the oldest science, the art of tracking is not only of academic interest, it may also be developed into a new science with many practical applications. One of these applications-at a time when wildlife manage ment has become increasingly important-is in nature conservation. Apart from the advantages in the management of wildlife, tracking may be the most effective means of controlling poaching. Trackers are often able to intercept intnrders before they do any harm; or where signs of poaching are found, the spoor may be followed and the guilty parties apprehended. By following the spoor of a poacher, traps and snares may be located and