The Finer Points of Poo - by Ellen

We covered the basics of tracking, using spoor (footprints) and signs (anything else). There were some nice easy ones – giraffe and elephant! – but we also had to learn the subtle differences in shape for kudu and waterbuck, hyena and leopard. The widest point of the print and angle at the back of the heel, and whether or not the tracks are registered (on top of each other) all tell you who went where. There was also the game of ‘who flung dung’. Size, shape and contents all tell a story. If the dung is big (like, really big!) it’ll be elephant or rhino, and if it contains sticks and bark it’s from an elephant; white rhinos only eat grass.

Giraffe dung is tiny! Due to being foregut fermenters (ruminants), they have extraordinarily effective digestive systems (I could go on about this, and other interesting giraffe facts for hours), and so only little pellets come out the other end. The pellets are widely scattered, which demonstrates the great height form which they fell.
‘Aging’ dung is done by looking at the consistency (it gets drier as it ages) and colour (it gets lighter as it dries). And, despite what our lovely tutor led us to believe, you CANNOT tell the age of giraffe dung by chewing/tasting it...ha bl**dy ha.

Fascinatingly, poo is not just poo. Carnivores produce scatt, omnivores produce faeces and herbivores produce dung. So, although humans (as ominvores) produce faeces, vegans would, in fact, technically, produce dung. Therefore, if you only ate meat...anyway, that’s quite enough about poo.