Clumped

Possum

Droppings (pellets) are long and cigar-shaped or slightly curved, like jellybeans, with slightly pointed ends.  They are called pellets, can be found singly or in groups, and are usually about 15-30 mm long and 5-14 mm wide.  The colour and texture vary with diet, but they are often various shades of green, darkening with age.  Possum pellets can have a distinctive smell rather like pickled onions.  In spring when pine pollen cones are common the pellets can be bright yellow.

Can be confused with:

Droppings are quite different to deer or goat pellets because of their elongated shape, whereas ungulate pellets are round.. Possum droppings are often found on logs and stumps, while deer and goat droppings are mostly found on the ground and often in pellet heaps. Large weta droppings can sometimes be mistaken for those of juvenile possums.

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Bennett's (red-necked) wallaby

Bennett’s wallaby droppings can be found stuck together in a clump as well as individual pellets, often varying with the diet and season. The individual faecal pellets are about 25-30 mm long and 15 mm wide at the broadest end and have a flattened square or rounded shape in cross section, and can be elongated or pear-shaped. The size of a clump will depend on how many individual droppings have stuck together.

Can be confused with:

Individual Bennett’s wallaby droppings are unlikely to be confused with those of other species as they are distinctive from other mammals and no other wallaby species occurs in the same area of distribution. However, if clumped droppings are very soft, the distinctive pellet shape may not be obvious, and they might be confused with soft, clumped droppings of species like sheep, goats or deer.

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Chamois

It is uncommon for chamois droppings to be clumped but it does happen occasionally. Pellets within a clump are about 20-25 mm long. They are oblong shaped and black in colour. Fresh droppings are shiny.

Can be confused with:

Clumped chamois droppings could be confused with clumped red deer or feral goat droppings.

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Himalayan Tahr (thar)

Himalayan tahr droppings are usually in separate pellets. They can be clumped into larger droppings but these fall apart into individual pellets. The pellets are dark brown, cylindrical in shape and about 15 × 7 mm in size. Large piles of Himalayan tahr droppings can be found around vegetated bluffs, where this gregarious animal congregates. The droppings will almost always be found in alpine (rather than forested) areas, most commonly between 1,400-1,700 m above sea level.

 

Can be confused with:

Himalayan tahr pellets could be confused with those from chamois, red deer, and sheep, and possibly brushtail possum and brown hare, but are fairly uniformly cylindrical in shape.  Although chamois latrine areas do sometimes occur, they are less likely to be from as large a group as with tahr.

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Fallow deer

Fallow deer droppings are usually observed as groups of pellets, but the pellets can be scattered as they walk along. Sometimes they adhere to each other forming a larger dropping. When they are fresh, they have a moist appearance and are either black or dark brown, but over time dry out and fade to a dull light brown colour. The size of pellet groups varies with age and sex of the animal, but in New Zealand they contain an average of 52 pellets. Individual pellets are approximately 10 × 10mm in size. From a distance they look like small balls, but on closer examination they are seen to be elongated and more pointed at one end. Fallow deer can also have latrines where repeat urination in the same place kills grass.

Can be confused with:
Fallow deer droppings can be confused with the droppings of other deer species in areas where their range overlaps, as well as the droppings of sheep, goats and chamois.

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Rusa (Javan) deer

Rusa deer droppings are usually observed as groups of scattered pellets. Sometimes they adhere to each other forming a larger dropping. When they are fresh they have a moist appearance and are either black or dark brown, but over time they dry out and fade to a dull light brown colour. From a distance they look like small balls, but on closer examination they are found to be elongated and more pointed at one end. In size they are somewhat smaller than sambar deer pellets which average about 20 × 10 mm, but the size range of each species overlaps making them largely indistinguishable.

Can be confused with:
Rusa deer droppings can be confused with the droppings of other deer species in areas where their range overlaps, and with goat and sheep droppings.

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White-tailed deer

White-tailed deer droppings are usually observed as groups of scattered pellets. Sometimes they adhere to each other forming a larger dropping. When they are fresh they have a moist appearance and are either black or dark brown, but over time they dry out and fade to a dull light brown colour. From a distance they look like small balls, but on closer examination they are found to be elongated and more pointed at one end. White-tailed deer droppings look rather like red deer droppings, but the individual pellets are a bit smaller (about 8mm to 16mm in size).

Can be confused with:
White-tailed deer droppings can be confused with the droppings of other deer in areas where their range overlaps.

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Sambar deer

Sambar deer droppings are usually observed as piles or groups of scattered pellets. Sometimes they adhere to each other forming a larger dropping. Droppings (pellets) are black, pointed at one end and about 20 × 10mm. They are often found in thick cover around the edge of pasture, where sambar deer like to pause before venturing out into the open at night to feed.

Can be confused with:
Sambar deer droppings can be confused with other deer species in areas where their range overlaps.

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Red deer

Red deer droppings are usually observed as groups of scattered pellets. Sometimes they adhere to each other forming a larger dropping. When they are fresh, they have a moist appearance and are either black or dark brown, but over time dry out and fade to a dull light brown colour. The size of pellet groups vary with age and sex of the animal, but in New Zealand they have been observed to vary between 18 and 359 pellets and cover an average area of approximately 50 × 65mm. Individual pellets are approximately 20× 20mm in size. From a distance they look like small balls, but on closer examination are elongated and more pointed at one end.

Can be confused with:
Clumped red deer droppings can be confused with droppings from pigs and sheep, and occasionally with clumped droppings from other deer species in areas where their ranges overlap.

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Wapiti

Sometimes, when wapiti pellets are moist, they adhere to each other to form a larger dropping, which in summer may even look like small cow patties, particularly if they have been eating new grass and herbs. Usually, though, wapiti droppings are pellets found in groups of scattered pellets (see separate droppings section). Wapiti droppings closely resemble red deer droppings.

 Can be confused with:

Wapiti droppings can be confused with droppings from other deer species. It will not be possible to reliably differentiate wapiti pellets from those of red deer in areas where their ranges overlap, with the possible exception of large-bodied, pure wapiti that have escaped from farms.

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Pig

Pig droppings are dark, flattened, oval-like pellets joined together in a cylinder. If the pigs have been feeding on coarse vegetation, then the cylinders are un-segmented i.e. individual pellets will not be obvious. Cylinders are irregular in shape and size, but are typically 25–50 mm in width and 70–120 mm in length. Pig droppings are initially dark, but become grey with time.

Can be confused with:
Fresh pig droppings may look similar to intact sheep droppings. Deer droppings can occur in cylinders too, but the individual pellets making up the cylinders look like little round balls (the size depends on the species, with the largest about 20 mm wide) with a dimple on one end and a small point on the other end.

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Ferret

Ferret droppings can adhere to each other in a clump, though indiviudal droppings are long, thin and taper towards a twist at each end. Dropppings are hard and black when dry and are often left in conspicuous positions (e.g. on top of a rock) for territorial marking. Individual droppings are typically 40–70 mm long and 10 mm wide, and droppings will be full of feathers, fur, bones or insect cuticle. They are difficult to distinguish from stoat or weasel droppings, but they will on average be larger.  Older droppings have a paler colour.

Can be confused with:

Stoat and weasel droppings are very similar; ferret droppings tend to be longer and wider but not reliably so. Juvenile ferrets could produce droppings of the same size as adult stoats or weasels. Cat droppings are rounder in cross section, smoother and segmented.  Hedgehog droppings look more granular and are not as pointed at the ends.

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Canada goose

Canada goose droppings can appear clumped together at sites where the geese are so numerous that the ground gets covered in droppings. Canada geese produce very large droppings that can be up to 100 mm long in large quantities. Droppings are cylindrical and five to eight times longer than wide. Fresh droppings are greenish and coated with white nitrogenous deposits. The light green of fresh droppings will darken over a few days and old weathered goose droppings can look tan and more fibrous.  The white layer weathers off. Because geese have a rudimentary digestive system, they eat often and expel undigested remains quickly. Adult geese produce 1/2 to 1½ kilos of droppings per day per bird. Pathways covered in droppings can be common beside lakes, rivers and estuaries.

Can be confused with:

Droppings of other large and moderately-large waterfowl and wetland birds such as swans, ducks (especially paradise duck) and pūkeko. Pūkeko droppings are much smaller, drier and more fibrous in appearance.  Black swan droppings tend to be larger, a bit longer and much fatter. Mallard droppings are smaller, often deposited in groups, and can also be so runny as to have little form. Paradise duck droppings look very similar but are smaller than Canada goose droppings.

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