Mystery scat
Photo of mystery scat found in Point Grondine Park, Aug 6, 2021.
Earlier this year, my partner and I were paddling along the Mahzenazing River, heading back in the direction of the park entrance. We had just spent our last night at Point Grondine where we'd seen two Black Bears, three big ass Beavers, and had a late night encounter with either a Bobcat or Lynx - it was too dark to tell.
We were paddling back when my partner had to pull the canoe over so she could pee. While I waited in the canoe I noticed there was some scat on a rock nearby. I anchored my paddle to the shore and pulled myself back towards the scat. From closer I noticed that looked like two distinct piles of scat, with two different colours, implying that they were probably placed at two distinct times. I looked around for any other clues nearby and when I looked almost directly opposite, on the other side of the narrow river, noticed a trail through the submerged vegetation. I wasn't certain that these two signs were connected but I got to wondering.
The scat reminded me of White-tailed Deer scat, in how one deposit was smaller pieces clumped together and another similar though the pieces were breaking apart. But this scat here on the river was a little different. The consistency was different, the size of the pieces a little larger and to be placed on a rock at the edge of a river? Didn’t really make sense. I wasn’t writing Deer off, but I wasn't taking it too seriously. It wasn't River Otter, whose tracks, scat and other sign I had been on the search for since before arriving. Their scat tends to be scalier from all the fish they consume, or chitinish, full of Crayfish exoskeletons. Later, right before moving on, I squished one with the paddle and the materials making up the scat seemed to be plant material. I know they are hard to find but I have once found a Beaver scat at work. It was about the diameter of a canadian dollar coin, or a "loonie" (so named because of the Loon on the tails side), made up of plant fibre like saw dust, was rounded at one end and sharply pointed at the other. This was not Beaver scat.
When my partner returned, she got in and braced the canoe for me while I leaned over and got a photo. I always keep a quarter in my pocket for scale (23.88mm diameter), which was great, because I referred back to that photo and the memory of the photo for the next few months. I had been toiling with it, wondering about Deer, and then deciding that wasn’t it and moving on.
Who was it? Whose scat had I found in the Summer and how could I figure it out? There were times of active searching and times of forgetting, ignoring the question and not being bothered by the desire to research. But again, some days I would sit, intent and focused, reviewing my books and even posting the image of some random animal’s shit on a message board hoping someone could tell me who it was from! No one could.
I found the scat on the rock on the side of the Mehzenazing River on August 6th and only figured out the answer on December 27th. There have been other mysteries that have taken even longer, such as the Trentepohlia algae I kept finding on trees. It took years until I figured it out. Sometthings are like that and I have learned that it’s ok to keep that mystery for a while. It creates a bond of some sort, a thread connecting me and the whatever-it-is-I-wonder-about, a bond which, if persistent, will stick around long after I have sorted out an answer.
One of my teachers, Alexis Burnett, quotes one of his teachers, Tom Brown Jr., once in a while. According to Alexis, Tom likes to remind everyone to “put the search back into research, put the quest back into question.” This is such an annoying but truly powerful means of teaching. When we give the answers it can go many ways. While it can lead to more in depth investigation into what ever it was that the questioner was asking about, in my experience, giving the answer right away more commonly shuts the inquiry and curiosity down. To give the answer often ends things right there. Now that I know a name, a fact, some trivia, the game is over. Search complete. But sometimes, and I really mean sometimes, not all the time, it is important to withhold answers, but instead offer tools and support, encouragement and even more questions to prod learners into the quest for answers. Think of all those stories we love where the hero has to go out and find the answer to the big mystery they have been wondering after! Think of all the experiences they encounter along the way, all the associated knowledge they acquire, along with greater understanding of how to research for answers. If the one who knows is supporting the learner, checking in and guiding them, a Virgil through the 9 shelves full of mammal books at the library, then we can help the learner stay on track, not feel exasperated and give up, but offer stories of struggle, patience and discovery. We can encourage a break, but remind to pick up trail again when the time is right, and to celebrate with them for the success so far, as well as when the answer is finally found… and then maybe throw in another well placed question to get them going again.
The search doesn’t have to take too long, but it doesn’t have to be quick either. Taking the time to wonder, and wander through the internet, or stacks of books, or asking folks can be healthy and good and only really sweetens the answer when it finally comes.
So whose scat is it anyways? Maybe I’ll let y’all figure this one out.