What’s going on out on the land?
Towards A Better Understanding of Scat
Ok, so the title might be a bit provocative, but it is the best I have come up with the truly explain what I am getting at. Recently, while the tracking apprenticeship was staying at the Wildlife Research Station in Algonquin Park, we encountered some scat from a few different mammals. The questions kept coming as to the contents, the diets, and the bodies which formed and shaped the scat. I want to explore some mammalian scat a little bit more with this blog post and try and understand what clues the poop might hold to the different physiologies of a few of the species whose scat we encountered.
Some scat from Point Grondine
During one of our daily drifts down the Mahzenazing River where we would occasionally have to paddle a little to be sure we didn’t hit an island and wreck out friends canoe, we decided we should stop on one of the islands so we could have lunch and investigate some of the plants a little better. While out of the canoe getting a better look at some Harebell flowers I noticed some scat atop a bed of Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen and White Pine needles