Scat Identification on Upper Yosemite Falls Trail
I meant to ask a Ranger before we left...
We saw this scat on the hike up to Columbia Point, which is 1/3rd of the way to Upper Yosemite Falls. March 14 2017. A warm couple weeks just after the big March snow storms.
I took a picture because everyone thought the bears were still mostly hibernating, so I thought I would check if it was recent bear activity. Could be human or even dog? It was just off the trail, so I'd hope not human!
I forgot scale was important, so I didn't intentionally include any clues -- the right-most dropping is on top of a twig which might help give a sense of scale. There is also a fly on the middle one.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/15634. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
Based on Olin Lathrop's suggestion, I searched around for coyote scat and found this resource:
https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Gray-Wolf/Identification
It points out that dog scat (compared to coyote/wolf) doesn't have a tapered end and has a very consistent appearance due to commercial dog food.
Coyote (or wolf) would have a tapered end and would contain hair and possibly bone fragments.
Given the uniform consistency and shape, I'll suggest it is dog.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/15638. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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