Droppings

Animal droppings (also called faeces, pellets or scats) are one of the most commonly found signs of pest animals.

Things to consider:

  • Location: habitat (e.g. grassland) and site (e.g. up a tree, near a fence line)
  • Form: separate or clumped? round pellets? tubular? tapered or rounded ends?
  • Size: length and width?
  • Colour and smell
  • Texture: smooth, fibrous?
  • Traces in droppings that might indicate diet or grooming habits: e.g. recognisable traces of fur, feather, plant fibre, seeds, bone, egg shell, insects?
  • Clumped or separate? Clumped droppings are where the droppings coalesce (come together) to form a ‘clumped’ mass. The individual pellets or scats will be clearly stuck together. Separate droppings are where the pellets are clearly quite self-contained and not stuck together, and include piles of droppings where the pellets or scats are simply deposited on top of one another but are not adhered to each other.

 

Remember appearance can vary, depending on an animal’s diet or the age of the dropping. After searching the clues here, you could also look at the Nature Watch 'Who's poo?' project.

Be safe: faeces can carry dirt and disease – ensure you wash your hands thoroughly after handling droppings.

Narrow your search to specific types of Droppings:

Separate

  • Plague skink droppings 1sq Drawing of plague skink dropping with scale.
  • Mouse droppings 1 500x50 Mouse droppings.
  • Kiore droppings 1 500x50 Kiore droppings.
  • Ship rat droppings 1a 500x500 Ship rat droppings.
  • Norway rat droppings 1a 500x500 Norway rat droppings.
  • possum droppings 4 500x5 Possum droppings, separate.
    (Can also be clumped.)
  • Rabbit droppings 2 500x500 Rabbit droppings, separate.
  • Brown hare droppings 1 Hare droppings.
  • dama wallaby droppings 1 Dama wallaby droppings.
  • Bennetts wallaby droppings 1 Bennett’s wallaby separate pellet droppings.
  • Goat droppings 1 500x500 Goat droppings.
  • Chamois droppings1sq Chamois droppings.
  • PestDetec pic needed Photos needed of separate Himalayan tahr droppings (pellets) before a typical drawing can be done.
  • Fallow deer droppings 2 500x500 Fallow deer droppings can be separate or grouped in clumps.
  • Sika deer droppings 1 500x500 Sika deer droppings.
  • Rusa deer droppings 500x500 Rusa deer droppings can be separate or clumped.
  • White tailed deer droppings 500x500 White-tailed deer droppings (can be separate or clumped).
  • Sambar deer droppings 1 500x500 Sambar deer droppings (or pellets) can be found scattered or clumped in groups.
  • red deer droppings 1 500x500 Red deer droppings (pellets). (Can also be clumped.)
  • Wapiti droppings 1sq Wapiti droppings.
  • Hedgehog droppings 1 500x500 Hedgehog droppings.
  • Cat droppings 1 500x500 Cat dropping.
  • Weasel droppings 1 500x500 Weasel droppings are long, twisted and tapering.
  • Stoat droppings 1 500x500 Stoat droppings are long, twisted and with tapering ends.
  • Ferret droppings 1 500x500 Ferret droppings are black, thin and taper towards a twist at each end (generally produced singly but can adhere together in a clump).
  • Rainbow lorikeet droppings 1 Rainbow lorikeet dropping.
  • Magpie droppings 1 Magpie droppings - look like the droppings of many other birds.
  • Rook droppings 1 Rook droppings - look like the droppings of many other birds.
  • Canada goose droppings 1 Canada goose droppings.

Clumped

  • Possum droppings 3 500x500 Possum droppings, clumped.
    (Can also be separate.)
  • Bennetts wallaby droppings 2sq Bennett’s wallaby clumped droppings.
  • Chamois droppings5sq A clumped chamois dropping,
  • Fallow deer droppings 2 500x500 Fallow deer droppings can be separate or grouped in clumps.
  • PestDetec pic needed Photos needed of clumped Himalayan tahr droppings before a typical drawing can be done. (i.e. individal pellets adhered together in a definite mass, rather than single pellets simply dropped in a pile
  • White tailed deer droppings 500x500 White-tailed deer droppings (can be separate and clumped).
  • Rusa deer droppings 500x500 Rusa deer droppings can be separate or clumped.
  • Sambar deer droppings 1 500x500 Sambar deer droppings (or pellets) can be found scattered or clumped in groups.
  • red deer droppings 6 500x500 Red deer dropping in a clump. (Can also be in separate pellets.)
  • PestDetec pic needed Photos needed of clumped wapiti droppings before a typical drawing can be done.
  • Pig droppings 1 500x500 Pig droppings are clumped together.
  • Ferret droppings 1 500x500 Ferret droppings are black, thin and taper towards a twist at each end (they can be clumped or single).
  • Canada goose droppings clump 1 Canada geese droppings.