Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/cat-footprints/

Have you seen a cat’s footprints and wondered why there are only two sets of prints instead of four? After all, cats have four legs and four paws so they should be leaving four sets of prints, right?

Well, a video captured of a white cat slowly walking through a bed of sand shows just how cats get away with leaving only two sets of prints.

The clip shows the cat placing her back paws exactly in the footprints made by her front paws. Because her back paws went right where her front paws stepped, only two sets of prints are made!

The style of walking isn’t unique to cats, either. It actually has an official name: direct registering.

The Maine Heritage Trust explains: “Direct registering is when a walking/trotting four-legged critter places its back foot directly where the corresponding front foot had been. This ‘track in a track,’ or ‘two tracks in one’ (if you will), appears to be a single track. This walking style is efficient in snow, grasses, and most habitats, and is used by wild dogs and cats.”

The purpose of direct registering is to make it harder for predators to follow. With only two sets of prints, it’s easier to be stealthy and get by undetected.

While the walking style is most helpful to animals in the wild who face being tracked and preyed upon, direct registering can often be seen in domesticated pets as well, like house cats!

In fact, a pet cat recently went viral for her use of direct registering across the snow.

Rather than step into a new spot and create fresh tracks, the fluffy feline retraces her old tracks in the snow almost perfectly! Check out the clip below:

It can be hard to see exactly how cats move their legs in real-time to step into their own prints, but a video shared by Hitesh Kumar helps break it down.

Check out the video below to see the footprints being made in action!

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Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog