Animal Poop Identification Chart: Scat by Shape

The Missouri Department of Conservation sorts wildlife scat into four general shapes — plop, tubular, twisted and pellet — and then reads size, contents, color, volume, smell and placement to narrow it down. That order works better than trying to match a photo, because shape and contents follow diet, and diet is what separates the animals living around you.

Broadly:

• Pellets come from plant eaters. Deer scat is black to greenish, made of plant material, and scattered in quantity.
• Tubular scat with fur and bone in it comes from meat eaters such as coyote, and it is often placed deliberately on trails and territory borders.
• Tubular scat packed with seeds and smelling strongly points to raccoon, which Missouri records at about 3/4 inch and which returns to the same latrine.
• Plop-shaped scat, up to a pound, containing plants, insects, fish and bone, is black bear, usually along trails or at the base of trees.

Our animal scat and tracks pages carry the same detail species by species.

Missouri's guidance is to read what is in the scat: seeds, bones, fur, insect parts, vegetation, grass, garbage or plastic. Seeds and fruit skins in late summer usually mean an omnivore working a berry patch — raccoon, fox or bear rather than a deer. Fur and bone fragments mean a predator. Undigested grass and plant fiber means a browser or grazer.

Placement matters as much as content. Scat left in a prominent spot — the middle of a trail, a trail junction, a rock — is often a territorial signal, which is typical of canids. Scat that keeps appearing in one spot on a deck, a log, a stump or in an attic is a latrine, and latrines are strongly associated with raccoons.

Color and smell tell you mainly about freshness, which matters if you are trying to work out whether an animal is still using the area.

The CDC describes raccoon latrines as places raccoons repeatedly defecate: the base of or in raised forks of trees, fallen logs, stumps, large rocks, woodpiles, decks, rooftops, attics, garages and haylofts. The droppings are dark and tubular, smell strongly, and often contain undigested food.

The concern is raccoon roundworm. The CDC states that newly deposited eggs take at least 2 to 4 weeks to become infective, so prompt cleanup reduces risk. Its precautions for cleaning a latrine:

• Disposable gloves, and rubber boots or disposable booties
• An N95-rated respirator if you are working in a confined space
• Lightly mist the area with water from a spray bottle to keep dust down
• Outdoors, treat soiled decks and patios with boiling water or a propane torch, since extreme heat kills eggs instantly
• Indoors, wipe with a damp sponge and hot soapy water, flush the dirty water, bag the sponge and bin it

If a latrine is inside your home or you are unsure, hire a licensed wildlife control operator rather than improvising.

Small tubular droppings in a drawer, along a wall or in an attic are usually mice or rats. The CDC's instruction is blunt: do not vacuum or sweep rodent urine, droppings or nesting materials, because that puts tiny virus-carrying droplets into the air, and that is the main way these diseases reach people.

The CDC's cleanup steps:

• Open all doors and windows for 30 minutes before cleaning, and leave the area during that time
• Wear rubber or plastic gloves
• Spray the droppings until very wet with a bleach solution — 1.5 cups of household bleach in 1 gallon of water, or 1 part bleach to 9 parts water — or an EPA-registered disinfectant
• Let it soak 5 minutes, or as the product label says
• Wipe up with paper towels and put them in a covered garbage can that is emptied regularly
• Mop or sponge the area with disinfectant afterwards

The same rule applies to bat droppings and bird droppings in enclosed spaces: wet them down, do not raise dust, and call a professional for a large accumulation.

You do not need to touch anything to get a usable record. Photograph the scat from directly above with a coin, a lens cap or a ruler beside it for scale, then a second shot from the side to show the shape and whether the ends are tapered, twisted or blunt. Then step back and photograph the setting — trail, latrine, lawn, attic — because placement is part of the evidence.

Note what you cannot see in a photo: how much there was, whether there was more than one deposit, and whether it smelled strongly.

The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management's blanket advice still applies: droppings are dirty and carry germs, so avoid handling them without protection and avoid inhaling near them. If you must move something, use a tool or gloved hands.

With the app, photograph it and the app identifies it. Use the result as a lead, then check it against the species page and against what actually lives in your county.