How to Track Animals by Their Scat

Tracking animals and identifying their scat isn't an easy task and requires special equipment to be 100 percent accurate. Routine changes in what the animal is eating can affect the shape and color of the scat. However, you can acquire a general idea of the type of animal that left scat.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Watch for brown or black scat in solid forms, generally indicating that the scat was left by a mammal. To further determine the type of the animal, look at the length and the width of the scat and pay particular attention to the form. It might be round or tubular, have flat or pointy ends, or possibly one flat and one pointy end.

2. Determine if there is just one isolated dropping or multiple droppings located in the same general area. Write down the time of day you found the scat and try to determine if it was left during the day or at night.

3. Identify any bits of undigested food or hair particles in the droppings. Knowing the animal's diet is a good clue to identifying the scat.

4. Identify songbird droppings by a dried fluid appearance, generally in a light color. Reptilian scat is similar to bird droppings but has a pasty, powdery appearance and a white cap.

Tips & Warnings

• Never handle animal scat during tracking unless you have proper equipment such as a tool for picking it up, gloves and a face mask. Some scat can spread disease. It's best to identify the scat visually.

Who Can Help:

• Tired of Being Tired? Fight Fatigue and Try FRS for FREE!