Poop Tales

It all began with an afternoon walk in the desert.  For some reason, I kept noticing animal poop. Rabbit poop, coyote poop, bird poop and even insect poop. All different in shape, size, color and even content. As much as I tried to resist it, I could feel the unmistakable stream of wonder begin to trickle through my mind. Sometimes, controlling wonder is a tricky proposition.

As I trekked through an area with lots of wild rabbits, I noticed two kinds of droppings, one light and one dark. It seems that rabbits do indeed excrete two varieties of droppings. The lighter colored one is simply waste, but the darker dropping is actually a nutrition-packed pellet that rabbits eat to remain healthy.  In fact, both wild and domesticated rabbits deprived of them will suffer from malnutrition.

Many of the granite boulders in the area  have the white-stained streaks of bird droppings, triggering another wonder response... why is bird poop typically white and not dark like most animals?  Birds do not urinate.  Instead, their bodies go through a similar process of gathering waste, but when it comes time to get rid of it, the waste is released from just one place instead of two.  This all-purpose passageway is also where eggs exit the bird's body. Like mammals, bird's kidneys filter blood to extract waste. Since birds do not urinate, the extracted uric acid waste combines with solid waste, dissolving much of the solid mass and turning it white. The final "product" is one white blob with specks of darker solids here and there. This no frills design may help birds retain water, as well as keep their bodies lighter for flight.

The orb web spider, Cyclosa Ginnaga actually builds a spot in their web that resembles a splat of bird poop.  The spider itself sits in the center to add to the illusion. This ingenious trick helps protect the spider from would-be predators, such as wasps, who are not much interested in a bird poop lunch.

Animal scat or droppings are not fun to look at, but if you can get passed the gross-out factor, scat can tell us a story about who is in the area, how healthy they are and what they are eating, among other things. Trackers look for bird droppings on rocks and cliffs to find perches and nesting sites. Small mammal scat can tell us about predator/prey relationships. Large mammal scat from bear and cougar can serve as a warning.

When you are trekking and tracking wonder, be aware of animal scat and see if you can "read" the tales it tells. Help children develop a healthy curiosity about all aspects of nature. Learning to understand every process, no matter how unpleasant it may be, is just part of cultivating wonder and discovering design.

Questions for Young Trackers:

• Who does this scat belong to? Bird, Mammal, Retile, Insect? How can you tell?
• Did the scat come from an herbivore, carnivore or omnivore? How do you know?
• Do you see evidence of bird perches in the area?
• How many different kinds of scat can you find?
• What can you learn about an animal by studying its droppings?

References and Resources
mentalfloss.com- Why is Bird Poop White?
The Mystery of Rabbit Poop
peta.com - Living in Harmony with Wild Rabbits
thedodo.com - 9 Quirky Animals with Very Special Ways of Pooping
nbcnews.com - Spiders Pose as Bird Poop to Evade Predators

Images: Sharon Pegany

Cultivate Wonder... Discover Design