Does a Bear Poop in the Woods?

On our recent family vacation to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina/Tennessee, we explored many hiking trails.  We explored the possibility of being able to 'bear' the smell of each other after not showering for a week while camping.  We also explored the answers to some of life's great questions, like the one posed in the title of this post.

Benjamin participated in the Junior Ranger Program and to help us out with some of these questions, we traveled to the Sugarlands Visitor Center outside of Gatlinburg, TN so that Benjamin could sit it on a scholarly dissertation entitled, "Yucky Animal Stuff."  Ranger Lloyd was in charge of the class and had a firm handle on the subject matter.  He told the kids that he was going to be using the word 'Yucky' a lot and that every time he said, 'yucky,' the kids should respond by saying, "Ewwwwww!"  They gladly obliged.

Ranger Lloyd

He asked all of the kids if they collected anything.  Benjamin raised his hand and told Ranger Lloyd that he collected coins.  Others told him they collected rocks, and LEGO's, and other things.  Ranger Lloyd said that he is an avid collector himself.  He collects BEAR POOP!  Except he said to never call it poop.  He said that the scientific word for it is 'scat' and the he is a Scatologist.

Ranger Lloyd had a 'potty mouth."

Ranger Lloyd said that he'd like to show his collection and he passed around real bear scat where the bear had been eating raspberries (red), then real bear scat where the bear had been eating blackberries (black), and then he pulled out what he called his 'crown jewel,' a very, very large bear stool sample.  He handled it with reverence and kept it neatly wrapped to preserve the mint-condition of this specimen.

The crown jewel

There were other yucky (Ewwwww!) things we learned.  He explained that a skunk sprays his stench from glands in his anal cavity that project the sticky substance forcefully.  He told us that it takes a skunk 10 days to replenish his stink so he doesn't want to spray, so the skunk first will warn you by hissing, then he will begin tapping his feet on the ground, then he'll turn in circles, then he'll lift his tail, finally he'll stand on his front legs with his tail up.  That is the skunk equivalent of DEFCON 1.

He told us that opossums have the same type anal scent glands but they can't forcefully project the scent, so they hiss, play dead and then emit a scent that smells like rotting flesh.  Lovely!  He explained about how cows chew their grass and swallow it and then burp it up and chew it again (chewing their cud) and that the stomach acid helps to digest the grass.  He told us that rabbits do a somewhat similar thing, except they chew grass and poop out something called 'cecal pellets.'  Cecal pellets are sticky and black.  Rabbits will eat their cecal pellets and by going through their digestive tracts the second time, it enables them to digest it. Then they poop out fecal pellets, which are the 'Cocoa puff' looking things you see in the woods.  I never knew this.  I tell you, you learn something new every day!

Ranger Lloyd and his skunk pelt

I guess the thing that stuck with us the most was a song.  Ranger Lloyd told us that he liked Bear Poop so much that he made up a Rap Song about it and wanted to teach it to the kids.  He passed out the lyrics and asked everyone to sing along.  The lyrics go like this:

It starts with an "S" and it ends with a "T,"It comes outta you and it comes outta me, I know what you're thinking, but don't call it that,Be scientific and call it SCAT!

(Kids were then invited to punctuate the rap with that familiar sound when you cup your hand under your underarm and pump your elbow up and down.  You know that sound.)  That's a clever song.  We sang it many times driving around the mountains in our rented van until we all have it etched upon our brains.

Benjamin (and our entire family) learned a lot of things on our trip.  For attending 3 excellent Ranger Presentations, Benjamin earned a Junior Ranger Badge from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to go along with the one he had earned in the Rocky Mountain National Park two summer's ago.

Badge of Honor

I almost forgot, Ranger Lloyd drove home the point that the answer to the question, Does a bear poop in the woods? is an unequivocal, "YES!"  They most certainly do and we've seen the evidence, up close and personal.  My hat is off to you, Ranger Lloyd for a job well done!