Thanks Don. Another lesson for me re scats i.e. to break them open as much as I can to reveal their contents. One of my FOG colleagues is aware that pigs have previously been seen in the area but I think this was along the creek line. They also spotted a fox recently. It was a solitary scat in undisturbed grassy ground cover well above the creek in an area with dry hard rocky/shaly soil beneath i.e. not the type of terrain and disturbance I have usually seen from pigs. If it was a dog then it could have been anyone's (e.g. surrounding landholder's, RFS team member, someone else's) or a wild dog?
Hi @AndyRoo , thanks for getting everything right, with a view of the whole scat and a ruler and a view of the scat broken open.
The size is right. The shape is not classic fox shape but possible for fox. However also possible for swamp wallaby, dog or (juvenile?) pig. No bone chips. No hair tufts. No insect parts. Contains a high proportion of plant material, mostly in coarse pieces. (Foxes eat plant material at times but it is not diagnostic for them and when they do, it is more often things like fruit, rather than coarse grass or whatever some of that is). Some individual hairs that could be grooming hairs, or sparse diet hairs. Conclusion - it could be an atypical fox scat but I cant be sure it is an atypical fox scat rather than atypical dog or atypical juvenile pig. Inconclusive.
