# Animals "Recognizing" footprints **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-recognizing-footprints/851849 "2020-04-15T12:59:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sdowiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Sdowiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sdowiat)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-recognizing-footprints/851849/1 "2020-04-15T12:59:09Z")
Do you know of ANY animal who can recognize a footprint ( without smell ) for what it is and know that it means some type of animal has gone that way? I don’t know of any… and that seems odd to me. I would think that would be a great evolutionary advantage and that they would at least learn to associate the smell ( when recent enough ) with the track itself and then learn to recognize the track alone. I’ve searched but so far found nothing on the subject… stan ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-recognizing-footprints/851849/2 "2020-04-15T13:01:25Z")
It would surprise me if that were widely possible (absent smell), but I’d suggest birds such as corvids might be a good possibility. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-recognizing-footprints/851849/3 "2020-04-15T13:07:47Z")
> [@Sdowiat](#): > > I would think that would be a great evolutionary advantage Why would you think that? Smell is more useful by several orders of magnitude. [ul] [li]It reflects the freshness of the spoor[/li][li]It is deposited in many different ways, even when no footprints are made[/li][li]It is more distinct than most footprints and at a minimum equal to a clear and distinct one[/li][/ul]