I'm Pooped!
Today was a very interesting day. After learning a great deal of information regarding the project that is going on here we set out on a six mile walk along the meandering shoreline north from Cherry Hill where we are staying. As you could see from my video this morning there are a variety of smooth rocks lining the shores and it made for some stumbly hiking! I'm pooped! Speaking of poo, the purpose behind the hike...
We were introduced to different tracks the mammals of NS make as well as their poo. Poo is important because it helps scientists estimate the numbers of animals that exist in a certain area. One particular mammal that presented itself in poo today more than any other was the porcupine. One of the things porcupines really like to eat is the bark from trees like the spruce in this picture with a bald spot. I'm wondering why porcupine poo looks like a string of beads on a necklace.
Don't forget to go on TQ...I have something waiting for you there too!
posted by Mr. Gasteazoro @ 6:46 PM
8 Comments:
I agree with Mr Pembroke - the sun is supposed to set into the ocean and not rise up from it. I grew up in California too. I still get my directions messed up living here in the midwest, especially going when I am supposed to be going east and I think I should be going west!
In the Pacific Northwest we call the rain "liquid sunshine." What do the people of NS call the rain? I hope y'all see more of that bright shiny orb in the sky!
Can't wait for your next blog!
Smiley's Mom (Rachel)
Dilly and Cyrus thinks that the porcupine scat looks like beads on a string because it eats a lot of tree bark and the tree bark makes the scat kind of like saw dust. Endymion thinks that the porcupine scat does not always look like beads on a string because maybe the scat got stuck on something like a hair of there own. Speaking of Porcupine scat it made us wonder what is the real reason why porcupine scat looks like beads on a string?
So far in your videos, you've said that the Skunk poo smells like tar in your mind.
We are wondering: what kind of tar? Wet tar? Dry tar? Bubbly tar?
Skunks eat a lot of different foods. Their main foods are insects, fruit, eggs and garbage, but they also eat meat including dead animals.
Do you think you will find a skunk?
Have you seen one already?
I found out that the porcupine eat the tree bark, I think that has something to do with why it is in beads. Maybe the wood chips or sawdust help hold it together when it comes out? I'm wondering why it is sweet smelling and it has to do with what the animal ate. I'm also wondering what it was like right in that area where you found it, were there tracks, what was the ground like, what kind of trees or plants were near by.
Also, just so you know I've started my Thinkquest page and included links to websites that might help students with some of these questions.
I hope you don't mind but I helped Brad send an email (using your GH address) to the zoo asking for information on porcupine scat. I also realized that I need to read their blog comments before they send them to make sure they are staying on topic. Ms. Jensen gave us a list/link to some web sites that will steer them toward climate change. Wish we could do NS all day!
For those of you that were able to post comments today, great job! Some of you were very close and some just had really good logic in your response.
Here's what Dr. Newman, one of our scientists, told me when I asked him: he said that the fiber that is in the bark causes the poo to string together like that. Bark is hard to digest but their bodies do get the nutrients and some of it gets through giving it that "pearl necklace" effect that you see in my picture. There are other animals that ravage tree's bark here in Nova Scotia that you may have discovered. They are squirrels, beavers and deer to name a few. The difference between those animals and porcupines is that the those other animals are chewers not eaters. They chew for the sweet stuff in a tree like sap while porcupines are actually after the bark itself. Knowing this helps scientists distinguish porcupine poo from the others.
Bdub - I'm looking forward to your additional research on porcupine poo from the zoo.
We were wondering, what is the difference between a porcuipine's poo and a hedgehog's poo? We went on nettrekker and did a little research, but found nothing. Is one's bigger than the other? Is one's smaller than the other? We just want to know, how do you tell the difference? Since a porcuipine's is bead-like, is a hedgehog's the same?
We noticed that you have done a lot of searching for poo. We are wondering if you have found any animal remains while searching for poo?
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