Great Scat, What Was That ?

GREAT SCAT, WHAT WAS THAT ?
 December 06 & December 08

We found some animal scats atop a tree stump during a walk along a trail one recent weekend at Presqu’ile Provincial Park. However, the fellow who first discovered them, was a bit more explicit in his boisterous announcement that assaulted the ears of all those present in the quiet coniferous woods that day.

All that aside, we took a twig and poked and prodded the scats in an effort to determine who our visitor before us had been. No one in our group was very good at this, and we could only speculate as to who perched atop this decaying tree stump earlier in the day. There are some good books on the market today which help us more clearly interpret the scats, tracks and other signatures many of us see on a typical walk, as we attempt to get a clearer picture of who preceded us on our walks.

Scats are different enough that an informed observer can usually identify many animals by this tool alone. One guide book I own seems to have a penchant for comparing scats to familiar food items throughout its contents. For example, “Fall moose pellets are compared to olives or unshelled pecans, those of the snowshoe hare are ‘like plump Smarties,’ the scats of raccoons are ‘sausage-shaped,’ and have a ‘fruity aroma,’weasels leave scats like ‘string beans.’ And in describing the droppings of a deer – ‘as small as peanuts to as big as jelly-beans, often raisin-shaped’. The only comfort one gets from reading any of this is that the skunk produces something akin to an ‘AA battery’.

Ian Sheldon, in his book, Animal Tracks of Ontario” admits that the closest we may ever get to some animals will be through their tracks, and these can inspire a very intimate experience. “Remember, you are following in the footsteps of the unseen – animals that are in pursuit of prey, or perhaps being pursued as prey.”

As with the pursuit of any interest, the more you discover, the more you will want to know, and the more you will learn, and understand. It takes many years to become proficient in the art of interpreting the tracks of animals, beyond the skill of simply identifying their owner, but forming an image of what the animal may have been doing when it passed by. Even bird study requires many years of dedication. Learning their identities is pretty straight forward, but committing the songs of over 300 species to memory is a challenge. Now, after more than 40 years in the field, I can claim that I know all the songs and call notes of all 300 and more species in Prince Edward County. Now that I have finally reached that pinnacle in my career, at 62 years of age, I am finding it more difficult to pick up some of the higher frequencies. With mammal tracks, it is apt to be failing eyesight that adds challenge to tracking.

Examining dung can tell us a lot about the animals and their movements – pardon the unintentional pun. Bear scats, for example, can tell us what success they have had in finding food. In them, will be berries and seeds, and many of these may be identified with the naked eye, without getting too personal with the scats themselves. Even season dictates what colour these scats should be, and what the animal has eaten. Those of the snowshoe hare are dark brown in winter, and black in the summer. Porcupine scats are soft and smooth and more irregularly shaped in the summer from a diet of leafy, green vegetation, but oval and elongated during winter. And dairy farmers know all too well how the brown cow patties of winter from a diet of fibrous hay, can differ from the green, almost hazardous, patties of spring, after a diet of rich, green grass!

These droppings that animals leave behind are helpful in interpreting who’s out there with us, but probing these signatures is not something that should be done with reckless abandon. Canine scat can contain the eggs of parasites, and airborne eggs can be inhaled if stirred up in old powdery droppings. Such examination should always be done with rubber gloves and a stick, and wearing a dust filter.