[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-564926-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":81,"doc-detail-564926-en":127},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","learn-about-animals-from-what-they-leave-behind","Learn about animals from what they leave behind","","Learn how scat, the scientific term for animal poop, can help identify species, track diet, and reveal where animals live. The guide explains how different animals process and leave scat differently across seasons, from rabbits and deer to moose, bobcats, and coyotes. It also covers safety and handling advice, warning that animal scat can carry diseases and should be touched only with proper tools or adult help, so readers can observe responsibly.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/","General",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/learn-about-animals-from-what-they-leave-behind/564926/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/learn-about-animals-from-what-they-leave-behind/564926.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Theodore","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-21","2026-10-12",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",9,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How can scat help biologists identify animals?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Scat can contain information about the animal’s species, diet, and where it lives, which biologists use to make identifications and draw conclusions.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Why does animal scat look different in winter versus summer?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Some animals change what they eat and how they process food across seasons, so pellet shape, texture, and moisture content vary between winter and summer.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What safety precautions should be taken when collecting scat?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Do not touch scat with bare hands or get too close. If it must be picked up, ask an adult for help and use gloves or a tool because scat can carry diseases.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},564926,1792109681,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,89,94,99,104,109,114,119,124],{"id":85,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":86,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},11,"Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":90,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":91,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":95,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":100,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":105,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":110,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":115,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":120,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":125,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":126},158,"general-158",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":128},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":129,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":130,"doc_module":22,"category_id":125,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":131,"file_id":132,"file_url":133,"file_type":134,"file_size":135,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":136,"language":137,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":138,"faqs":139,"seo_title":140,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":141,"read_time":26},7971461740886,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","▼  \nBILL MARCH EL  \nBy Jason Abraham  \nWhaT  \nPooped  \nHERE?  \nLearn about animals from what they leave behind.  \nOh poo! You’ve probably heard someone say that when things aren’t going right. But for biologists who study animals, saying “oh poo!”might mean they’ve found just what they’re looking for.  \nThat’s because poo, known as scat by scientists who study animals, holds a lot of information about the animal that left it behind. Biologists can usescat to identify the animal species, its food, and where it lives. Some biologists get clues about its health and alot more. You can be a scat sleuth too, if you’re not too squeamish.  \nJust like people, most animals poop regularly, if not everyday. That means you can use scat to identify animals all year—even during the coldest  \ndays of winter. You just need sharp eyes and a little information to get started. Scat from some species like rabbits and deer is easy to find—look near wooded areas in parks or even the bushes around your house. You might have to wait until your next trip to the wilderness to find poop from bobcats, moose, and other secretive species.  \nRemember when looking at scat not to touch it with your bare hands or get too close. Animal scat can carry diseases, so if you have to pick it up, ask an adult for help and make sure they use gloves or a tool.  \nYou can be a scat sleuth and learn to identify scat from many Minnesota animals.  \nJanuary–February 2019 51  \nBILL MARCH EL  \nSPARKY STENSAAS TAMMY WOLFE  \nEastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)  \nDid you know that rabbits eat some of their own poop? It’s a trick they use to survive on twigs, bark, and buds when their nutritious summer foods, like grass and clover, are covered in snow.  \nIf you’ve ever chewed a twig, you knowhow tough and indigestible plant parts can be. By eating these foods twice, cottontails get at that locked-away nutrition. After chewing and digesting, the rabbit expels a soft, brown pellet called a cecotrope (seek-o-trope), which it immedi-  \nately re-ingests for a second pass through its digestive system.  \nAll that digesting results in hard poop pellets about the size and shape of a garden pea. They are brown and often very dry because they are devoid of nearly everything except the toughest, most indigestible fibers. Look for rabbit droppingsin dense, low hedges or in brushy, overgrown fields.  \nOther animals that rely on re-ingestion include snowshoe hares and guinea pigs.  \nWhite-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)  \nLike rabbits, deer rely mostly on tough, woody foods to see them through winter. But instead of eating their own poop, deer chew, regurgitate, and re-chew their food to get the most nutrition possible. This process, called rumination, works because deer have stomachs with four special chambers that help breakdown tough foods. Moose, elk, and many other animals, including cattle, rely on rumination.  \nWhen deer are feeding on twigs and buds in the winter and early spring, their  \ndroppings are round and hard, like rabbit poop. But in the summer, when they are eating green shoots, leaves, and other foods, their droppings become clumpier.  \nWhitetails with young are cautious about leaving any clues that would help predators find them. When does leave their newborn fawns alone while they find food, the fawns don’t poop until the mother returns. When she does, the fawns stop holding it—and the mother eats the waste to hide the evidence.  \n52 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer January–February 2019 53  \nMoose (Alces alces)  \nMoose also often dine on woody vegetation, particularly in winter. Like deer, they are ruminators that chew, digest, and rechew their food. They produce oval pellets that are usually harder in winter. In summer, moose poop is soft or even ploppy like cow pies because plants they eat during that time contain more water.  \nNearly all Minnesota’s moose live in the northeast, and you’ll often find their droppings in dense forest with small, younger  \ntrees. D","cbCaiskO4XmNtMEa","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiskO4XmNtMEa","pdf",573147,6,"English","# Scat as Animal Clues\n## Why Biologists Study Scat\n## How Scat Reflects Diet and Habitat\n# Seasonal Differences by Species\n## Rabbits and Cecotropes\n## Deer and Rumination\n## Moose and Pellet Changes\n## Bobcats and Rope-Like Scat\n## Coyotes and Varied Contents\n# Safe Scat Handling","[{\"question\":\"How can scat help biologists identify animals?\",\"answer\":\"Scat can contain information about the animal’s species, diet, and where it lives, which biologists use to make identifications and draw conclusions.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does animal scat look different in winter versus summer?\",\"answer\":\"Some animals change what they eat and how they process food across seasons, so pellet shape, texture, and moisture content vary between winter and summer.\"},{\"question\":\"What safety precautions should be taken when collecting scat?\",\"answer\":\"Do not touch scat with bare hands or get too close. If it must be picked up, ask an adult for help and use gloves or a tool because scat can carry diseases.\"}]","Learn about animals from what they leave behind | PDF",1791845153]