Bigfoot Latrine Question, Who Knows $h!t About Scat? (Pun Intended) Options

[hopeful]

I have read about researchers finding possible sasquatch latrines. The latrine being described as having many extremely large scat deposits in various degrees of decomposition all located within a small area around the base of a tree.

If this has been discussed before here, I apologize for not doing a search first.

My question is does anyone know of any kind of large animals that will 'go' consistently in the same place? Bears, mountain lions?

[Flashman]

Coyotes and Mountain Lions kind of do it. Coyotes frequently mark the same trail intersections over and over, Mountain Lions defecate near their lay-up spot. I think the largest dump after eating is near the lay up spot. So if the tree looked like somewhere a cougar might find comfortable to lie up in, it could possibly be a cougar sitting up the tree and pooping off it. Cougar scat should be fairly identifiable though, consisiting of a lot of fur and or feathers and little or no vegetable matter.

[dogu4]

One characteristic of mountain lion scat is that the dimensions are big. A pile of cougar poop will have cylindical cross-sections almost the size of beer cans...Scream like a panther? Wouldn't you?

[moregon]

What kind of tree? When I was in Oregon and had a sow and two cubs spend most of the summer into late fall in and around the house, they did a LOT of their duty around the apple tree they were raiding. within only a couple of days after they arrived I found at least 8 piles of scat with the furthest being maybe 15 feet away. I continued to find piles in that area all during the time they remained.

[accozzaglia]

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=14341

This one has always captured my attention for its curious possible location.

[moregon]

One characteristic of mountain lion scat is that the dimensions are big. A pile of cougar poop will have cylindical cross-sections almost the size of beer cans...Scream like a panther? Wouldn't you?

Would that be the Standard Beer Can...



or the Mini-Keg type can?



Geesh..

Just curious if you actually saw some Cat Scat that large, or is it something someone told you? If so, wonder if they may have seen something else. Everything I've seen and find says it's considerably smaller than beer can size.

Cougar scat is about the size of a large dog's scat and usually contains large amounts of hair.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/mora/ncrd/cougar.htm

Of course that statement is addressing on average I'm sure, and there ARE some MONSTER cats out there that I wouldn't be surprised could produce something larger, but I doubt Mini-Keg size.

This post has been edited by moregon: Nov 30 2007, 08:02 AM

[Bitter Monk]

My question is does anyone know of any kind of large animals that will 'go' consistently in the same place? Bears, mountain lions?

The short answer would be no with a small caveat. A lot of animals will use urine (and cats I believe will use feces) as a method of marking their territory, but I doubt you're ever going to find that kind of "bear tree".

[Apeman]

According to my best scientific reference material, the largest animals to reuse a spot are big cats, then peccaries, badgers, otters, genets....

See this link for purchase of this very useful reference

[Wardog1078]

I have heard from sources, that shall remain un-named, that the "Chupacabra" has a tendency to "go consistently" in the same place.

Myth or Fact ?????????????? ..... I do not know.

[Flashman]

I have heard from sources, that shall remain un-named, that the "Chupacabra" has a tendency to "go consistently" in the same place.

Myth or Fact ?????????????? ..... I do not know.

Next time I find a pile of hard black faeces that crumble to a powder, turn red in water and test for goat DNA I'll bear that in mind.

[The Cod Father]

Next time I find a pile of hard black faeces that crumble to a powder, turn red in water and test for goat DNA I'll bear that in mind.

Flashman ,

After reading that little snippet I know that there has to b e a story behind it and I request that you come forth 'round the pickle barrel and tell us a tale . What would posess you to rehydrate crumbled poo? Did you suspect it was research worthy or did you find it in an active area ?

I really am interested!!!

TCF

[Flashman]

Sorry TCF, I was just playing off the legend that their main diet is goats blood, and extemporising from how you find out if those black specks you brush out of kitties coat are flea poop. (You just got me wondering what the poop of a mammalian blood sucker such as a vampire bat looks like though)

[hopeful]

Thank you all for your replies.

This was large, but not beer-can large, dogu4! (Scream like a panther, no doubt!)

I only saw pictures, but it didn't appear to have tufts of hair or feathers. Nor did it appear to have fallen from a distance such as from a cougar up in the tree as you mentioned, Flashman. There was a game trail leading to the area, but I don't think it was at an intersection as in the way coyotes will do.

Moregon, unlike with the sow and her cubs you saw, the tree was a large pine tree in a wooded area, and the scat was located at the bottom of the tree within a radius of maybe three to four feet from the tree. (And definitely not the mini-keg-type-beer-can size!!!!)

So, Bitter Monk, you've said doubtfully a "bear tree" and possibly a cat. (But there was no tufts of hair or feathers.)

Accozzaglia, thank you for the link. When I read about the pile of scat in the abandoned mine that was large enough to fill a 35 gal fish tank, I recalled a tour through the beautiful and amazing Blanchard Springs Caverns in NW Arkansas. The tour guide pointed out a HUGE pile of bat guano that was probably 15 feet high! She said it was used in mascara. (That was many years ago and I don't think they use it like that anymore.)

Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable looks quite useful and is both in my price range and my age range so thank you very much, Apeman.

Hippos navigate by it, sloths keep in touch through it, dung beetles eat it . . . and most grown-ups would rather not to mention it.

Again, you have big cats as being at the top of the list. A cat surely does look like the culprit. (Gotta double check for the hair tufts.)

Wardog, that's a really awesome avatar!

Again, I appreciate all of your replies! Thank you!

[Huntster]

....My question is does anyone know of any kind of large animals that will 'go' consistently in the same place? Bears, mountain lions?

River otters for sure.

[ganglian]

The short answer would be no with a small caveat. A lot of animals will use urine (and cats I believe will use feces) as a method of marking their territory, but I doubt you're ever going to find that kind of "bear tree".

cats will spray to mark territory, I thought black bears claw trees to do the same

[moregon]

Moregon, unlike with the sow and her cubs you saw, the tree was a large pine tree in a wooded area, and the scat was located at the bottom of the tree within a radius of maybe three to four feet from the tree.

hopeful did you catch Dr. Meldrum's recent intereview on the Coast-to-Coast show? In the interview he talked a tree that he had climbed up and found the top had been broken off or hit by lightning so it had that chopped off flattened top look. When anyone was up there they could see the entire area quite clearly so it made a good vantage point for a lookout. The other thing they found was large scat. I'll have to check, but it seems like he said it appeared that this was being used for that purpose, as a toilet on more than one occassion.

Part of the transcript possibly pertinent to this discussion...

Dr. Meldrum: On one of our outings in the Blue Mountains outside of Walla Wall. There was an area where there was a tree, a very large tree in a spot where sightings had occured. As we were scouting around looking for some sign there was obvious wear on some of the lower branches of this tree where something had rubbed against these branches quite frequently it would seem. I thought let's go take a look up there, so we cluttered on up there and this was a large Ponderosa Pine as I recall, which are good climbing trees and right up in the top, I was up probably about 35 feet, the crown had been struck by lightning or something. But the crown was very misshapen and the tree had kind of widened out up there and there was a nice little spot. From that spot you had a fantastic vantage point of the surrounding valley. Lo and behold right smack in the middle was a scat pile.

Ian Punnett: Hello!

Dr. Meldrum: It's dimensions, we did collect it but it's dimensions and it's appearance weren't excessive in dimension or quality or quantity rather, excuse me. But I was quite impressed by the fact that there was some animal that was using that tree and that little perch almost a nestlike little perch naturally up there with the gnarly branches and widened out flattened crown. Opened crown of this tree as a resting point or as a vantage point and...

Ian Punnett: Or a latrine.

Dr. Meldrum: Yeah latrine, had relieved itself up there.

This post has been edited by moregon: Dec 2 2007, 07:49 AM

Reason for edit: Added Transcript Portion

[Paul1968UK]

I have experienced some horses that regularly use the same area, although that could simply be down to presence of water etc.

In a stable, horses sometimes go in the same corner, which is great if it is your job to muck them out each morning But I've only ever seen that in two horses in the past ten years.

[counselor]

We had a dog once that would go to fence in the far part of the yard to do his business...

[jasonch1112]

I would think that BF would have to squat because they are bipedal. This would cause either more weight on the heels or the ball of the foot, depending on exactly how they would squat. With that much weight put over a much smaller area of the foot, there should be a good impression near the pile even in the harder soils. While the impression would not be worth anything in and of itself, it would be a strong indicator that the creature leaving the scat was a BF.

[sassfoot]

i don't know $hit.

[RedRatSnake]

Hi


Some of my Lizards go in the same conner, my Leopard tortoise just stomps through it until it is ground down to a dry cake like substance, but he don't seem to mind a bit


Peace
Tim