another mystery poop

[Franco]

Now I am familiar with a load of poop we have around our place bu this one I cannot identify :

about 8cm in diameter found mostly on the trails around my place.
So I suspect an animal that roams around a lot but does not stop to eat.

[Eremophila]

Why oh why did I click on that while I was eating my lunch !!

Looks like my dogs after they have eaten something they shouldn't have.....

[GPSGuided]

C'mon Franco! That's... Diarrhoea.

[north-north-west]

Cabn't believe I'm saying this but . . . are any of the larger and more solid chunks recognisable? Vegetation, seeds, meat, whatever?

[Franco]

I have seen those since moving here 11 months ago and I see a new one or three most days.
In other words that is what that animal does all the time.
very dark brown almost black.
BTW, I see more detail here (looking at that photo) than I have seen "live", maybe I should take a closer look...

[Nuts]

My bid is for a native herbivore, small to middling and with access to introduced grasses or lawn.

[Franco]

Put it this way, I have now identified kangaroo, wallaby, fox, echidna and rabbit poo.
That isn't it but I can't think what it can be.

[Franco]

Put it this way, I have now identified kangaroo, wallaby, fox, echidna and rabbit poo.
That isn't it but I can't think what it can be.

[Eremophila]

I don't reckon that's a healthy poop. Does it smell right or wrong?

[geoskid]

Naaaaysty.
Need some idea of scale - can you hold a ruler next to it?
Mass :Volume data might help........someone?

Sorry Franco, no Idea.

[ribuck]

If it doesn't smell right for poop, it might even be a slime mold. Here's one feeding on dead wood chips:

https://diversityoflife2012.wikispaces.com/Slime+mold

[Franco]

Need some idea of scale - can you hold a ruler next to it?

As mentioned , they are about 8cm in diameter.
Again they are found on a trail and are almost exactly the same in size. No idea of the smell but not detectable standing up. (might take a closer look and sniff...)
Not sure about the slime mould because they are of a very deep dark colour (a bit darker than in my photo here) and don't have any protrusion, they are mostly somewhat circular.

I don't reckon that's a healthy poop.
Yes I know what you mean but as mentioned I have seen them regularly for almost a year , no change that I can detect.

[Franco]

I had another look.
When the top is dry , inside it is still pretty runny , looks and sort of smells like a small cow pat after they been eating fresh grass.
I have never seen two fresh pats close by but on the same trail there will be one every 10 meters or so but only on the trail. I criss cross my property most days but can't see them apart from the trails I use to go up down or across when not just looking around.
So I would say it is an herbivorous animal but there are no seeds or berries in those scats.
(the one in the photo looks lumpy but it is just the light)

[Moondog55]

The only thing I can think of is a feral cat that has been eating grass

[Franco]

maybe I did not make it clear but I have been seeing those , with a new one or two every few days , for almost a year.
So whatever animal is doing it, that is his diet and it is normal for it .
A clue here is that they are always single pats , just one at a time .

[onward]

Emu

[MickyB]

Emu

Agree. Emu poo can be variable but is often runny like this. Colour can vary as well.

[Franco]

there are no emus around here, in Creswick (north of Ballarat)
I think I would have noticed one going up and down my property but maybe a nocturnal mini emu could be it.
Here is another photo . This is on the trail that goes up to my dam.


There are several others up and down that trail but they are never from the same day.
Over the dam there is a ditch that crosses to the other side of the property (small water canal) the animal dropping those pats goes across there and into the neighbour's property . (it's bush around there)

[Neo]

Bunyip. Mysterious and rarely seen.

[Moondog55]

You need to set up a trail camera
Neo; Bunyip scat is much bigger and contains human remains

[Franco]

I thought of a trail camera but I am not willing to spend the money just now.
Mind you it took me almost a year to see one of the echidnas and we have holes made by them all over the place.

[Avatar]

My humble guess/suggestion and awaiting your refutation: platypus

[Franco]

remains a mystery..
there are no creeks nearby , the nearest is over 2 km away so I can't see why one (or more) would regularly cross my property.
They are carnivorous so I don't expect for their scat to look like that.
This is where I am :


my place is the one in the centre, there are two vineyards visible (they look like tennis courts of sort)
the animal in question comes in from around the road (top of photo) , goes up the side next to my neighbour on the left or up on my driveway, then up to the dam visible at the bottom of the photo on the left, up another 20m or so then across to the neighbour on the right at the level of his dam. (over 400m )
The reason it goes up over the dam is because there is a trail of sorts crossing towards the property on the right. (not visible in the photo)

[wander]

Fluid deposits are more likely to be a regurgitation than a poop, except in the instance of emu as suggested above or birds like geese and so on.

Many birds regurgitate a portion of their meal rather let it go through and this is often a wet to liquid deposit. But I cannot think of any that looks like your sample.

We probably need to see more of what is in your samples.

[Nuts]

Franco, It's probably more the case down here (there are lots of various native mammals in big numbers), but out of town (living) its common to see numerous poops in various stages of sloppiness around houses and altered pasture.. when they are firm and identifiable from the same species living in natural grasslands and scrub. Other than analysis, be hard to identify other than by guessing at the amount or seeing the culprit.

It could be from a bird, they do it all in one motion so often sloppy, seeds and husks, usually some tinge or tail or swirl of white from uric acid? maybe not.

[Neo]

Human remains!?! Here is a mystery poop. I'm in Bali, there are two cats but too big for them, no dogs can get in (I think). Have snakes around, birds, bats and lizards including a large and a medium lace monitor. Any ideas? I'm guessing a carnivore/omnivore. White puddle included which suggests a single vent. The tiles are 4-500mm square, area open to the garden/river.

[Neo]

As much as I don't want to, I've subscribed to this topic. Ugh

[Neo]

Franco try Gearbest for cheap electronics from China if you haven't already. I ordered some bits and bobs once, standard delivery about a month. Also got a refund on something that was out of stock (forgot what I'd ordered anyway).

[Franco]

I'll try to summarise it here...
I took some more photos this morning to better illustrate what I have been trying to explain.





This animal crosses my property ,probably only at night, very regularly. (several times per week not per day)
poops on the trail , never outside it, so makes me think that he is just in transit.
The poop is always the same, it has been for almost one year.
The first photo is to show a typical spot. It is the rim of the ditch that crosses my property above the dam (dug in 1862 by Chinese gold miners..)
The next shots are of a fresh one, from last night/this morning.
It is the same ditch about 50m away from the first poop. There are others there (one can be seen at the top left of the second photo, about 2 weeks old) but NOT from the same night. Only one poop per night.
Digging into the poop reveals nothing to me, no traces of anything , looks to me that he just eats grasses.
It is very soft but, again, it has been doing them exactly like this for almost a year .

[Nuts]

So not likely a bird, even a hen or turkey, quite large as well. You could sieve it under some water to see if there's any remnant hard bits?
I think you need a trail cam (and metal detector).