12-25-2021, 09:26 PM
I've heard of these footprints before. I don't even pretend to know what could create impressions with all of the different attributes listed for these, but I do have a couple of observations on prints in general.
Some creatures leave straighter lines of tracks than others. Even within a species - humans, for example - some will leave straighter tracks than others. People who spend a lot of time in the woods, hunting for instance, generally leave a straighter, narrower line of tracks than people who don't. That used to be called an "Indian walk", but it isn't limited to just Indians. It seems more a function of time spent in the woods with a desire to disturb as little as possible in passage, stalking game for instance. It leaves a narrower path (often a mere 6 inches or so from side to side), and disturbs less vegetation, creating less rustle and noise.
Male animals, a buck deer for example, tend to leave a wider path with their hind feet than female animals do. I guess they don't care to mash their jouncy bits together, and the females don't have that to worry about. A related observation when tracking humans is that women tend to walk pigeon-toed, with the toes pointing towards the opposite foot, and men tend to walk with the feet splayed more outwardly. City people have a tendency to march along with a wider gait that country folks do, a careless sort of walk. It gives the appearance in the tracks of a lack of balance, necessitating a wider gait to stay upright.
Perhaps one of the sillier explanations for the tracks in the article was "toads". Have you EVER seen a toad track in snow? I haven't. When it snows, toads tend to stay in hibernation, because they are cold blooded.
All in all, it seems a strange set of circumstances, but well and widely attested, so much so as to tend to suppress dispute and imagination as explanations.
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Some creatures leave straighter lines of tracks than others. Even within a species - humans, for example - some will leave straighter tracks than others. People who spend a lot of time in the woods, hunting for instance, generally leave a straighter, narrower line of tracks than people who don't. That used to be called an "Indian walk", but it isn't limited to just Indians. It seems more a function of time spent in the woods with a desire to disturb as little as possible in passage, stalking game for instance. It leaves a narrower path (often a mere 6 inches or so from side to side), and disturbs less vegetation, creating less rustle and noise.
Male animals, a buck deer for example, tend to leave a wider path with their hind feet than female animals do. I guess they don't care to mash their jouncy bits together, and the females don't have that to worry about. A related observation when tracking humans is that women tend to walk pigeon-toed, with the toes pointing towards the opposite foot, and men tend to walk with the feet splayed more outwardly. City people have a tendency to march along with a wider gait that country folks do, a careless sort of walk. It gives the appearance in the tracks of a lack of balance, necessitating a wider gait to stay upright.
Perhaps one of the sillier explanations for the tracks in the article was "toads". Have you EVER seen a toad track in snow? I haven't. When it snows, toads tend to stay in hibernation, because they are cold blooded.
All in all, it seems a strange set of circumstances, but well and widely attested, so much so as to tend to suppress dispute and imagination as explanations.
,
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’