Porcupine Scat and Tracks: How to Identify Them (Erethizon dorsatum)

Rodent droppings are small and dark; shape and size are the first cut (rice-grain with pointed ends for mice, blunt and larger for rats, oval pellets for squirrels and voles). Tracks show four toes on the front foot and five on the hind, and most rodents bound, so the larger hind prints land ahead of the front prints. Gnaw marks with paired incisor grooves are often the clearest sign. The measurements below for Porcupine are quoted from the wildlife agencies linked at the bottom of the page.

• Gait: Tracks are often accompanied by a tail-drag mark

• Gnawed bark and twigs clipped off onto fresh snow: Twigs clipped onto fresh snow, tracks, and gnaw marks on trees can confirm porcupine presence
• Tooth marks on branches: Tooth marks left on branches
• Bark stripping severe enough to kill the tree: Sometimes strips bark so severely that the whole tree dies

The Porcupine is covered in quills and has a distinctive appearance; no verbatim source describing the need to distinguish it from other species was found for this table

Put something of known size next to it (a coin, a pen, a boot) and shoot straight down in soft light; low side light brings out the shape of tracks in mud or snow. For scat, photograph the whole deposit and one close-up showing contents. Note where it was: on a log, in the open, on a trail, near water. The app suggests the likely animal; confirm with the size and shape notes above.