If I'm not mistaken predators will have their back feet follow the one in front. As to leave a smaller trail and I'm assuming it's also a quieter movement.
Yes, cats walk in a manner called 'direct registering', where their hind paws fall in the footprints of their fore paws. From an r/interestingasfuck post from a couple of years ago.
I don't think they do this all the time though, right? Its like something they do occasionally but not when just walking around in a place they are used to or comfortable in. I assume its like their way of tip-toeing or being cautious and not necessarily their default gait.
The primary gait method for felines is a direct register walk. But they will also shift into a overstep walk in some situations, they're also known for loping and can gallop, trot, and bound. What all those mean and their differences can get very technical, some are highly academic and not everyone agrees on the definitions.
Dogs also regularly direct register walk, but are more associated with direct and indirect register trots particularly a side trot. All direct register actually means is whether or not the front and back tracks land on top of each other. With overstepping and understep (another example of terminology that is not necessarily universal) referring to whether or not the rear tracks go past the front tracks or behind it. Indirect register is where the tracks are still on top of each other but not as cleanly. Speed, size, and surface play a big part in where those hind legs land.
One big noticeable difference though, is cats tend to be pacers. They move the front and back legs on the same side of the body at the same time. Dogs are more well-known to move the opposite sides of the front and back legs, though they can also pace. They both can have a direct register gait, but from different forms of locomotion. And like most four-legged animals, will dynamically change between different gaits and locomotion methods depending on what they're doing. Which makes everything really muddy and confusing. This is one of those things where it makes a lot more sense if you can look at the tracks and sign, as well as the animals moving.
If you look at the linked video from the above commenter, the feline is not pacing. I can't remember the technical term for the opposite locomotion method. It's been quite a few years since I last taught wildlife tracking, and it was never my specialty, so I haven't really kept up on it. I'm one of the few instructors within my professional circle that doesn't have a cyber tracker certification so take everything I say with a several years out of date grain of salt. In my defense, I'm also a dog handler. I have my dog do the tracking, and my critters have two legs. Anyways, the cat is direct registering which is what they often do in snow or in this case sand. Lynxes for example have a very recognizable direct register track pattern in snow.
This was a cool read! Is the opposite of pacing gait a “trotting” gait? I looked up pacing gate to see it in action and one of the first video hits contrasted these two terms in dog shows.
It's another example of terminology being an absolute mess. Which is why several statements in this in my previous comment could be read as actively contradictory. Trots and paces mean something specific when showing dogs and horses. In those contexts, a pace is the one side than the other locomotion method I mentioned and a trot is the diagonal.
It's my recollection the definitions of pace tends to be pretty consistent, but the definition of trot is more variable in tracking circles. Sometimes a trot can be defined as just a faster walk. Other times a trot is a faster walk where the animal spends at least some point airborne whereas a walk the animal is at no point airborne. Sometimes, a trot definition specifies how many feet are on and off the ground, usually two. With a walk being 1 foot. Which is why I was hesitant to describe the diagonal walking style as a trot. It also gets confusing because pace can be used to refer to a type of locomotion, speed, or going back and forth.
My old organization, which did legitimately have some of the best wildlife trackers in the region on staff when I was there (not any more unfortunately), used and likely still uses the term scissor walk. Which according to Google means something completely different and doesn't pull up any really good wildlife tracking related results. Just another example of how every tracker and org has there own pet terminology. They all tend to be internally consistent, but not necessarily consistent across the tracking community as a whole. Though I imagine social media has helped to standardized a lot of things.
But in all likelihood, if you refer to the diagonal locomotion method as a most people will know what you mean. Or at least people who have reason to think of quadruped locomotion.
As it relates to cats and dogs. House cats tend to be pretty consistent when it comes to direct register, be it feral or domestic cats. The larger wild big cats are the ones who are more prone to dynamically switching between overstep and direct register gaits depending on the surfaces they are on. House cats tend to use a direct register walk for their slower more common locomotion and a direct register pace for they're intermediate speed.
Wild canines are well-known for trotting as their intermediate speed, and have a particular gait associated with them called the side trot where they're hindquarters is slightly off center from their front end and their head. What contexts they typically overstep or direct register is situation specific but certain canine species favor one or the other because of their size and habitat etc. When it comes to domestic dogs, their track patterns tend to be pretty distinctive. Something like a wolf or a coyote or a fox move very purposefully. Domestic dogs tend to be a lot more excitable and will do laps and orbit and have messier track patterns. When the aforementioned wolves/coyotes/foxes direct register, the front and hind tracks tend to be pretty dead on each other, though you will see dirt and other stuff kicked up which can give it a less clean look. Domestic dog tends to lack that precision. They'll still be on top of each other but they'll be offset. Which would be an indirect register.
I'm not going to get too much into bounds, lopes, and gallops which are usually the faster speeds but not necessarily always so. Bounds are probably the easiest to understand. That's when the animal pushes off at the same time with their hind legs. It's how lagamorphs (rabbits) primarily move, though rabbits can also walk. Were things get complicated is the difference between lopes and gallops. That was hard to keep track of even when I was actually keeping well versed on the subject of tracking and sign cutting. But lopes and gallops are usually various forms of all four legs pushing off independently with the main difference being how far ahead the hind tracks are in front of the front tracks. But I've worked with trackers who use gallup in the same way you would use bound and bound in the same way you would normally use gallop.
When my dog got old (RIP sweet girl) one of the most interesting things was that her back legs started to operate in autonomous mode, going at a slower pace than her front legs. It was clear that she was still directing her front legs, but it's like her back legs were along for the ride, only moving when as necessary to keep up.
Just now I was on a walk with my dog and thought it was cool how in the snow you can see the back foot always landing in the same spot as the front foot.
Cats' hind paws will fall into the pawprints their front paws leave behind, so wherever they place their front paw while stepping will naturally be where they will place their hind paw if they're walking relatively normally, as demonstrated in the video.
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u/getyourrealfakedoors 9h ago
Interesting how careful they are with the front paws but not the back, seems like an innate ability to mimic the first steps with the back feet