The forgotten art of Scatology

7/24/2007

You can learn a lot about an animal by what it leaves behind. Sometimes, all you have to do is look down.
In biology, scatology is the study of feces. Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature; including its diet, where it has been, and any maladies it might be suffering from.
Scatology is a useful and respected profession. The pretty, young scientist from the first Jurassic Park film was up past her elbows in Triceratops dung at one point, and she certainly knew her stuff. She also got to visit an amusement park and fly around in helicopters.
She lived a pretty good life, actually, until the dinosaurs busted loose and starting eating a lot of her friends; which you really can’t blame her, or scatology, for.
A scatologist knows how the world works at ground level, literally. Since animals and the environment can’t talk, their droppings most often do the talking for them.
I know a woman who graduated college as a fish and wildlife technician. She is a hardworking and intelligent person, and today is an Outreach Education Assistant.
She loves her job, and she also loves scat; and it has led her into the process of researching and developing her first book, entitled simply “Whose Poo is This?”
It is a field guide, a kind of junior scatologist’s companion, complete with pictures and descriptions of all sorts of animal droppings. It includes the best methods to determine what each dropping can tell you, and how to record the pertinent information—and they can tell you a lot.
Close inspection of animal droppings can tell you what they are eating, and if they are healthy or sick. Comparing the results to food found in the area can tell you if the animal is a local or a tourist. Finding a steaming pile of bear scat tells you, for example, to walk in another direction.
Suitable for any reader, it is intended as a children’s book about the various forest and field creatures one might encounter in the Canadian wilderness, and what their feces typically look like. At first glance, such a book might seem, crude, rude and disgusting. Quite the contrary.
“Whose Poo is This?” is the kind of book a serious field naturalist would not want to be caught without.
It would be a valuable resource to anyone in the field, and a welcome addition to any outdoor education centre.
Anyone who has spent time in Grade 3 or 4 knows that thoughts of feces, or anything at all that might be crude, rude or disgusting, crosses a child’s mind every nine or 10 seconds. Why not have them put that energy to good use.
Who knows, a book like that could inspire a whole new generation of scatologists, people who care about animals, the health of the environment, and how well things are working themselves out. No pun intended.
It likely won’t launch a movie and marketing dynasty like the Harry Potter or Dr. Seuss books, but “Whose Poo is This?” could start people thinking more about the world we live in, what we are doing to it and the creatures we share it with. At the very least, it would be a popular choice in the library whenever the Grade 3/4 class pays a visit.