Who visited my food forest?

Hola!

A couple of hours ago I found this poop. It was close to the drip line. And it looked like, wichever creature did this, was looking also for water as it digged in several drip spots.

I have seen many wild cats this days, but I dont know, cats usually hide their poop and this was just like this in the open.

Opinions? Before deciding if I need to do something, I should know who is the villain

Could those be berry seeds in a dark colored scat? Berries are a favorite food of raccoons. Yes, raccoons do harvest water from irrigation lines. They also live in Spain, among other places. The scent of human urine repels raccoons according to my very smart buddies at our local animal control office.

I agree with Amy as that scat looks like raccoon scat.

Other than being a nuisance, raccoons do what raccoons do.

coyote scat kind of looks like that too, and coyote eats meat, fruits, nuts, whatever they can get. around here they strip persimmon trees in short order once fruit ripens

Anne Miller wrote:I agree with Amy as that scat looks like raccoon scat.

Other than being a nuisance, raccoons do what raccoons do.

I have never seen a raccoon in this area. Maybe some relative?

bruce Fine wrote:coyote scat kind of looks like that too, and coyote eats meat, fruits, nuts, whatever they can get. around here they strip persimmon trees in short order once fruit ripens

Thanks Bruce, although no coyotes in Spain. It would be scary to see one 😅

Amy Gardener wrote:The scent of human urine repels raccoons according to my very smart buddies at our local animal control office.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that this doesn't work at my house.  My chicken coop is also literally 5 feet from my dog kennels and the smell of dogs/dog urine and the sight of dogs going crazy trying to get them has no effect either.  I haven't lost any birds this year until one night a few weeks ago when I was an hour late getting home to lock the birds up.  Raccoons had killed 6 of my 11 birds by time I got there.

And yes, that looks like raccoon scat to me too.

Maybe we could use the process of elimination to figure out what kind of animal left this scat.

What kind of animal do you see in that area?

Could it be a "meloncillo" (mongoose) a marten or a fox?

Could you set up a game cam in the area?

Another option if you don't have or can't afford a game camera is to look for tracks. Depending on your soil, you may just be able to look at the ground. That doesn't work for all soil types though. Even when it does, can be tricky since sometimes you only get partial imprints that are harder to identify. You can also use something like sand or flour to make it easier to see the tracks. All you have to do is get a good dusting in the area they've been visiting prior to the time you expect them. Obviously being mindful not to do it before rain or high wind that might mess with it.

HEY! I have a strange hobby that involves me poking apart scats and finding out what animal left them. It would be useful to know your ecology, where you are located geographically, and some size context. For future cases, place something common next to the scat or animal track, like a coin, or a ring. This helps give context to the size of the thing in your image which is usually hard to decipher because the nature of these images are to be close up to the ground with no depth or reference.

Back to the point though. This is most likely not a cat as cats tend to be strictly carnivorous. The seeds in the scat say no to cat. It does seem rather racoonish, but another likley possibility is foxes if you have them in the area. Foxes like to leave their scat in high spots and at trail intersections. Look for more on top of logs or rocks.

I'd be interested to know your geographic region so that I have a better idea what kinds of animals may live in that range.

Yes, usually, cats for habit to hide their excrement. But maybe another animal came and made this hole. Anyway, only an expert in the field can enlighten you better. I am new to the forum and I am very interested in animals. I am also thinking of training on the veterinary profession.

Anne Miller wrote:Maybe we could use the process of elimination to figure out what kind of animal left this scat.

What kind of animal do you see in that area?

I see cats all around. And used to see boars. And squirrels

Riley Hughes wrote:HEY! I have a strange hobby that involves me poking apart scats and finding out what animal left them. It would be useful to know your ecology, where you are located geographically, and some size context. For future cases, place something common next to the scat or animal track, like a coin, or a ring. This helps give context to the size of the thing in your image which is usually hard to decipher because the nature of these images are to be close up to the ground with no depth or reference.

Back to the point though. This is most likely not a cat as cats tend to be strictly carnivorous. The seeds in the scat say no to cat. It does seem rather racoonish, but another likley possibility is foxes if you have them in the area. Foxes like to leave their scat in high spots and at trail intersections. Look for more on top of logs or rocks.

I'd be interested to know your geographic region so that I have a better idea what kinds of animals may live in that range.

I am in the mediterranean coast of Spain. There are lots of wild cats, squirrels and boars. There are foxes in the mountain, but not down here. Never seen raccoons or similars, but it looks like that cause they made the letrine

After doing a little looking into the wildlife common to your area, my best bet would be that the culprit is a common Genet. They are mostly carnivorous but are also known to eat fruits when they are available. They build latrines (similar to a racoon), that are also used for scent marking edges of territory.. I can't find any Genet scat pictures online to compare it to, but this makes the most sense to me assuming there is some other animal I don't know exists in the area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_genet

Riley Hughes wrote:After doing a little looking into the wildlife common to your area, my best bet would be that the culprit is a common Genet. They are mostly carnivorous but are also known to eat fruits when they are available. They build latrines (similar to a racoon), that are also used for scent marking edges of territory.. I can't find any Genet scat pictures online to compare it to, but this makes the most sense to me assuming there is some other animal I don't know exists in the area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_genet

there are many genets here, so … could be!

Luckily I have not seen more since my first post