What’s that scat on your property?

Deer leave small piles of well-formed, shiny, dark pellets that are slightly tapered at one end. Because deer are ruminants—like cows and moose—they chew their food more than once, which means their feces is very smooth, with little undigested bits of food visible.

Chipmunk scat can be hard to distinguish from other small rodents like mice, shrews, and voles. If you’ve ever seen mouse droppings, that’s about what chipmunk scat looks like—small, dark brown or black pellets that tend to be uneven in shape.

Moose droppings look like deer droppings, only bigger. Depending on what the moose has been eating, its droppings may be less well-formed—and a lot more unpleasant to step in.

Porcupine droppings are distinctive because they’re largely composed of sawdust. After all, porcupines eat mostly wood. Their feces looks like oblong tubes that are slightly curved, and often appear scattered beneath a tree.

Bear feces resembles the feces of a large dog in size and shape, although the variety in bears’ diets can significantly change the appearance of their droppings. It’s often easy to see fruit peels, seeds, fur, and even dead insects within their scat. If a bear has been rooting around in the garbage, their poop may even be clogged with bits of plastic bag.

Coyote droppings are tapered at one or both ends and frequently contain large amounts of fur or undigested food. Its colour changes depending on what the coyote has been eating. It can be tough to tell coyote scat apart from fox droppings—they have roughly the same shape, and a large fox’s droppings can be the same size as a small coyote’s.

Raccoons leave their droppings in “latrines,” which contain droppings left over a period of time. Raccoon droppings often have chunks of undigested food in them, giving you a good idea of what they’re eating. Be very careful around raccoon scat—their feces often contains the eggs of the raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis) which can be fatal to humans. If you come across a raccoon latrine on your property or (ugh) within your house, call a professional to clean it up.