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Ananya answered on
Apr 04 2022
Running Head: FOOTPRINTS AND IDENTIFYING PEOPLE 1
FOOTPRINTS AND IDENTIFYING PEOPLE 9
FOOTPRINTS AND IDENTIFYING PEOPLE
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Types of Footprints 3
Significance of Footprints 4
Footprints and Identifying People 5
Conclusion 6
References 8
Introduction
The impression caused by the feet of any organism on any surface is known as their footprint. The footprint is a unique identity of any organism, either human or animals who has a foot and use them for locomotion. Footprints are an individual identity, which has helped in the identification of human in the past and differentiate them from other animals who are very similar to the humans.
In ecology, bare footprints have played an important role to identify the process of evolution in animals. This evolution occu
ed for sustenance of the species in nature and to survive as they are now, by natural selection. The process included several selection and rejection of species and ultimately the selected ones survived. These selected species possessed several characteristics, which have been understood by the study of the footprints.
The length, height, structure can all be understood from the study of footprints which indicates the occu
ence of certain organism. Through the study of footprints, humans are also identified from the pre-historic times and now it is even helping in the fields of forensic and evolutionary studies.
Types of Footprints
There are several types of footprints of several species on the sand, which can differentiate between the verte
ates and the inverte
ates. As mentioned by Marsicano, Domnanovich and Mancuso (2007), the existence of dinosaurs can be tracked by their footprint records. The less imprinted, light, bipedal characteristics differentiate them and help to identify the species. Similarly, the locomotive action also differentiates the species by their footprints.
For example, small birds such as spa
ows hop and leave a lighter footprint, whereas bigger birds like the ostrich walks on the ground making a deeper impression of their feet. These differentiable characters help to identify the different types of footprints of different species. According to Hatala, Wunderlich, Dingwall and Richmond (2016), the locomotor type can also be judged through the morphology of the footprints of humans. On this basis, the closest related species such as apes can be differentiated having a different locomotor type and morphological structure of their limbs.
Humans possess arches in their feet and several races of people can be distinguished through this arch. Similarly, the birds who survive on the land, water, and air can be differentiated by their foot type. Their foot can be we
ed (duck), parched (crow), gripping (bat), walking or running feet (spa
ow). Animals such as tigers possess a soft paw and a lighter imprint, whereas animals such as elephant, being heavier creates a deeper imprint of their feet on the ground.
According to Creton and Go
(2007), some species such as lizards possess sticky feet, which help them to remain stuck with the surface where they move. The footprints of such species are...