1/17/2024 0 Comments Globular animal skat![]() When it comes to bear scat, understanding the characteristic color and texture, odor and consistency, and size and shape can help you identify and differentiate bear scat from other animal droppings. Color is black to brown when eating a mixed diet and green when eating mostly grasses.Ĭomparing bear scat to other animal droppings can be like night and day bear scat is much bigger, with a distinct shape and texture, and often contains remnants of different food sources, while other animals’ droppings are much smaller and more uniform.Contents include berries, vegetation, roots/tubers, cutworm moth parts, and remains.Fibrous and tubular when eating vegetation Larger than black bear scat (2+ inches in diameter).Color is black to brown when eating a mixed diet and green when eating mostly grasses. It can be fibrous and tubular when eating vegetation and turn black, moist, and smelly when consuming meat.Ĭontents include berries, vegetation, roots/tubers, cutworm moth parts, and remains from moose, elk, mountain goats, and sheep. Grizzly bear scat is similar to black bear scat but larger, with a diameter of 2+ inches. Remember, if you come across fresh scat, it’s best to keep your distance! Grizzly Bear ScatĪvoiding potential confrontations with grizzly bears is easier when you know what to look for in their scat. Knowing what to look for will help you identify black bear scat and stay safe outdoors. Color can vary from black to brown to green, depending on what the bear is eating. You can distinguish it from other droppings by size and shape, and its contents can range from vegetation to insect parts, berries, and seeds. Black bear scat is tubular and fairly uniform in size, ranging from 5-12 inches long and 1.5-2.5 inches wide. Black Bear Scatīy recognizing the scat of black bears, you can safely stay aware of their presence and reap the benefits of successful hunting. Not only can you identify the presence of bears, but you can also determine what type of bear is nearby and what it’s been eating. Knowing the difference between black bear scat and grizzly bear scat can help you stay safe, as each type of bear scat has its unique shape, size, contents, and color. THOUGH THE SDSAB DOES ITS BEST, THESE COLUMNS ARE EDITED BY ED ZOTTI, NOT CECIL, SO ACCURACYWISE YOU'D BETTER KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.Identifying bear scat is important for hunters, hikers, and anyone else spending time in the woods. Send questions to Cecil via REPORTS ARE WRITTEN BY THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD, CECIL'S ONLINE AUXILIARY. So, to recap, the #1 factor is the colon, #2 is the rectum (and possibly sphincter), and #3 is the diet and how it’s digested (that is, those factors which determine the consistency of the feces itself). Obviously, the digestive process itself–which is different in ruminants such as cattle–is also a factor. The phenomenon doesn’t correlate strictly with a fibrous diet (though the pellets would probably not hold their shape otherwise), since animals like cows and buffaloes have a fibrous diet but most definitely have soupy poop. When the feces are more amorphous, only the anal sphincter contributes to the shape if the sphincter stays open a long time, you tend to get long, unbroken masses, as in humans. Horse apples are not quite as consistent, but they’re close. Caterpillars, which lack a colon or sphincter, derive the shape of their droppings entirely from the rectum, while the dropping shapes of animals such as goats, deer, and rabbits are due to a combination. Some animals have internal muscles that control the process to a degree, such that each fewmet comes out virtually the same size and shape–essentially, the rectum acts a lot like a press (maybe a better analogy would be a sausage-making machine). In animals such as rabbits, the feces are formed into pellets by the colon, which pushes them out into the rectum rhythmically, leading to a fairly uniform shape and size. The answer lies in large part in the digestive tract itself. ![]() Let us deal with the matter as scientists.Ī combination of things is involved. Dear Straight Dope: Dear Straight Dope: Being an avid outdoorsman I’ve often wondered, what is the internal mechanism in animals such as goats, dĪ legitimate question.
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