Scat pix 9/30/25
Don Rideout took 22 iNat obs of poop found along the West Mesa Loop on 30 September 2025. Tom Chester measured the sizes of the poop, both for the entire "poop event", and for the longest connected individual members of the poop, for the 20 obs which had individual components. Two of the obs had amorphous poops in which individual members weren't present.
Plots of the sizes of the entire event, and the longest connected individual members, produced similar plots, with three main groups, but the plot of the longest connected individual members of the poop had the tightest groupings, shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. The length and width of the longest connected individual member of each poop event. The poop events are labeled as those with fur in the poop (5 events); those with seeds in segmented poop events (11 events); and those with seeds in amorphous poop events, labeled as "not segmented" (6 events). Individual segments could not be recognized in two of the "not segmented" events, and so couldn't be measured.
Three groups, representing different sizes, have been labeled. See also unlabeled plot.
The sizes of the longest connected individual members are:
- Group 1, 10 members. Lengths 2.4 to 4.1 cm; widths 0.8 to 2.3 cm = lengths 0.9 to 1.6 inches; widths 0.3 to 0.6 inches.
- Group 2, 7 members. Lengths 6.5 to 7.7 cm; widths 1.9 to 3.6 cm = lengths 2.6 to 3.0 inches; widths 0.7 to 1.4 inches.
- Group 3, 3 members. Lengths 8.8 to 9.8 cm; widths 1.9 to 2.7 cm = lengths 3.5 to 3.9 inches; widths 0.7 to 1.1 inches.
All 22 poops are shown in Figs. 2 to 4. The photographs are not all to the same scale. Measurements of the longest connected individual member, when they existed, are given below each photograph, along with the Group assignment.
| Scat with fur | |
6.5 x 2.4 cm, Group 2. | 
6.8 x 2.6 cm, Group 2. |
9.8 x 1.9 cm; our longest scat, Group 3 | 
7.6 x 2.8 cm, Group 2. |
7.7 x 3.6 cm, our widest scat, Group 2. | (intentionally blank) |
Fig. 2. Photographs, not to the same scale, of the five poops which had fur in them. One poop stands out as being different, the first one in row 2, which is very segmented. Segments are recognizable in the second photo in row 2, but they aren't as pronounced.
| Seeds in segmented poop | |
9.4 x 2.7 cm, Group 3, although maybe we should have measured only the left 2/3 of this scat, which would place it in Group 2 | 
6.6 x 1.9 cm, Group 2 |
6.5 x 2.0 cm, Group 2 | 
4.1 x 2.3 cm, Group 1 |
3.8 x 1.1 cm, Group 1 | 
3.6 x 1.5 cm, Group 1 |
3.4 x 1.9 cm, Group 1 | 
3.3 x 1.9 cm, Group 1 |
3.3 x 1.7 cm, Group 1 | 
3.3 x 1.7 cm, Group 1 |
3.1 x 1.4 cm, Group 1 | (intentionally blank) |
Fig. 3. Photographs, not to the same scale, of the eleven poops which had seeds in them in segmented poop.
| Seeds in unsegmented poops | |
8.8 x 2.1 cm, Group 3 |
7.0 x 2.1 cm, Group 2 |
No measurements | 
2.4 x 1.5 cm, Group 1 |
2.5 x 0.8 cm, Group 1 (the entire segment might not be shown in the photograph) | 
No measurements |
Fig. 4. Photographs, not to the same scale, of the six poops which had seeds in them in non-segmented poop.