Scat at Wild Basin
The Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve consists of 227 acres of hill country, giving habitat to many species. These species include coyotes, deer, opossums, raccoons, armadillos, golden-cheek warblers and a variety of other birds. Most of these critters are active during the night and are not commonly seen by visitors. A great way to understand the influx of species at Wild Basin can be through analyzing the tracks and scat they leave behind. Scat is a term coined for the fecal matter that is unique to each animal. Feces can vary from factors such as diet, to animal type. For canines, it is more common to see feces that are rounded and in a pellet formation. For example, coyote droppings sometimes include fur and bones from ingestion of rats, mice, etc. Feline droppings have angled ends and are less tubular in shape. Rabbit pellets consist of finely chewed grass and are generally a darker brown tone. Rat droppings are on average 12 mm long, rough in texture, taper in on one point, and are frequently found deposited in groups. Squirrel droppings are cylindrical in shape, up to 8 mm in diameter, and frequently dropped at favored feeding grounds. Deer, on the other hand, ruminate, so their food is more finely digested. The pellets they drop show no obvious food content. The pellets are cylindrical in shape, pointed at one end, and indented at the other. Opossums are omnivores with a diet of insects, berries, birds, eggs, etc. This range leads to their scat being less easy to identify. Raccoons are also omnivores with blunt droppings up to ¾ of an inch. Raccoon scat is prominent by fallen trees and outcrops of rock.
Here is an example of what appears to be very dry droppings of some canine creature, perhaps a coyote. The pellets are rounded and have evidence of hair.
Above is an example of raccoon scat, with obvious remnants of some type of berry.
This last photo, discovered off Ledge Trail, was dehydrated, old, and scattered, but upon closer inspection, consisted of very fine hairs. This leads to the assumption that these are also coyote droppings.