{"id":18711,"date":"2019-11-26T02:20:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T02:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=18711"},"modified":"2019-11-27T07:44:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T07:44:59","slug":"what-can-you-learn-from-studying-an-animals-scat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/what-can-you-learn-from-studying-an-animals-scat\/","title":{"rendered":"What can you learn from studying an animal’s scat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Verity Mathis<\/a>, University of Florida<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Curious Kids<\/a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What can you learn from studying an animal\u2019s scat? \u2013 Cora, age 9, Brookline, Massachusetts<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Everybody poops. There are even whole books<\/a> written about it. And we can learn a lot about animals from what they leave behind. <\/p>\n

Scientists study animal poop, also called scat, to learn about the hidden lives of animals. We can find scat in the wild and know what type of animal left it based on its shape, size and contents. <\/p>\n

I study mammals<\/a>, so I know that a pile of brown pellet-shaped scat that\u2019s about the size of chocolate-covered raisins could be a sign that there are white-tailed deer in the area. Bigger, tube-shaped scat with hair and bones in it might be from a coyote.<\/p>\n

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