What are human fingerprints?

Human fingerprints are unique patterns on your fingers that help people tell each other apart.

Imagine you have a special fingerprint map on your finger, it’s like a road map made of little hills and valleys. Every person has a different map, just like every kid has a different way to draw a smiley face.

When you touch something, the hills and valleys of your fingerprint press into it, leaving behind a tiny copy of your fingerprint. This is how police can find out who touched something, they look at the copy left behind!

Even twins have different fingerprints because their finger maps are made differently, just like two kids might draw the same picture but use different colors or shapes.

Fingerprints never change, so they're a great way to know for sure who someone is, no matter how old they get.