Scat, or animal droppings, can be nasty, but it can tell us a lot about animals and what they eat. From large horse droppings filled with hay to small owl pellets with the bones of rats, they can be very useful to scientists. If you look closely at the photograph above you can see pieces of undigested apple in this scat!
THINGS TO TRY HERE:
- Keep your eyes open for scat as you walk along the trail. Can you find several pieces of scat?
- If you look very closely can you tell what the animal had been eating?
- The size of the scat can be a clue to how big the animal is.
- Can you guess what kinds of animals left each piece of scat?
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