direct registering

English

Noun

direct registering (uncountable)

1. The practice, of cats and some other animals, of placing their hindfeet in the same place as (i.e. in the prints left by) their forefeet.
   • 2003, Mark Elbroch, Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species, Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 1:

     ... constantly sharing in her li[e since I had moved there the previous October. On this glorious morning, every track in her eastward trail was perfect. She moved in her natural rhythm, a direct registering trot, and I envisioned her gliding through ...

   • 2012, Lawrence Mark Elbroch, Michael Kresky, Jonah Evans, Field Guide to Animal Tracks and Scat of California, Univ of California Press (→ISBN), page 53:

     All the canines use this gait, but it tends to be for short sections of trail and most often is a transition from a direct-registering trot to a side trot. However, Gray Foxes use this gait very often, as do Mule Deer and several shrew species.

   • 2013, James Lowery, Tracker's Field Guide: A Comprehensive Manual for Animal Tracking, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 10:

     If you see consistent direct registering in an alternating track pattern, the track pattern will have been made almost always by a wild member of the cat family (bobcat, mountain lion, lynx) or a fox (kit fox, red fox, gray fox).

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see direct,‎ registering.

Synonyms

• perfect stepping