Featured Image: A Gray Fox surveys the surroundings after urine-marking this down log.
An information request was posted on a Facebook animal tracking group, which prompted me to dig up some old trailcam videos from my property in Melrose, 5 miles west of Roseburg, Douglas County, Oregon. The questioner asked if anyone had observed raccoons depositing individual scat on logs (outside of obvious latrines). Gray Foxes are commonly observed to place individual scats on top of logs, rocks, other scat and just about anything else, and that is the go-to suspect when individual scat is observed on top of something (versus a latrine that has a collection of scats). I remembered two trailcam (camera trap) locations I had monitored on my property some years ago and thought I would take a look at them. One set from 2019 I had already included in a blog post on wildlife use of an Acorn Woodpecker granary that had fallen over. An older set of videos from 2013 were from a trailcam I had placed looking along the top of a fallen Oregon White Oak tree on our property. I had obtained quite a few videos of animals using this log, the most abundant being Common Raccoon and Gray Fox; but also Virginia Opossum, domestic cat, and a variety of birds. I looked through the 2013 videos. I didn’t find any video of a raccoon excreting on top of a log. However, I did see some interesting behavior and decide to share two sets of videos here.
In the first video compilation, from January to March, 2013, are nine individual clips that focus on the location where a Gray Fox pees on the log. The first clip (and the worst because it was foggy and this was my old trail camera), has the fox walking away from view, stopping at least once to pee on the log (some pee stops can be subtle and quick). Following that are two clips of a raccoon licking and even biting/chewing on the bark and moss where the fox peed. The next clip is the fox doing a very quick pee at the spot again. Next is a daytime clip of my boys and me checking out the site. You will see my oldest son, Daniel, point to a raccoon rubbing location (revealed in next set of videos), and quickly smelling the fox pee area. Next, a Varied Thrush photobombs the view of the log, included to show the (reddish) discoloration of the moss and bark in the fox pee area. Next are a couple clips of a couple raccoons sniffing the rub and the pee area. Lastly, is the fox again doing a quick urine marking on the same spot.
The second set is a compilation of six trailcam videos recorded in May and June 2013. Five of the six clips show a raccoon anal rubbing on a basal portion of the down tree (where Daniel was pointing in the previous compilation). The first clip ends with the raccoon doing a couple scrapes with its hind feet on the areas where the fox had urine-marked. Coincidence? One clip, the third of six in the series, dated May 25, I included just to show the nifty way this raccoon uses the top side of its hind foot to drag on the log as it drops to the ground below (it does this twice). The anal rubbing behavior was not recorded during the above compilation, January to April 2013.
I’ve hardly looked at the log for more than ten years, so I went down to check it out yesterday, November 24, 2024 (see below). The down tree had deteriorated substantially. All the smaller and most of the larger branches had fallen and the main trunk was lower to the ground than it was ten years ago. Most interesting to me was that the greatest area of visible deterioration was right at the location where the fox had peed and the raccoon had licked and chewed. While most of the tree still had bark on it, albeit loosely, at the spot where the fox had peed, was an exposed area of rotted wood. Around that general area most of the bark was missing or dislodged. Coincidence? Does animal activity such as shown in these videos influence the location and rate of deterioration of logs? It would not surprise me.
I was not able to provide proof of a raccoon depositing scat on top of a log, but the behaviors observed were interesting and might provide insight into interpreting rub and urine marking sites on logs in the future.
If you haven’t already taken a look, here’s a link to my blog post from 2020, called “Local Wildlife Forages on Fallen Acorn Woodpecker Granary,” that also shows Gray Fox and Raccoon and other species using the same down tree, as well as some scat on the tree.
This Post Has 3 Comments
Thanks for sharing this Matt! What a treat to get a snippit of the night life out there! I love the way the one racoon used its one hind leg/foot to support as he/she crawled off the log! And I guess it make sense that the high traffic, waste area would is the first to begin breaking down. Oh… and those kids were pretty cute too… bet they look alot different now!
Interesting how different animals take interest in other’s scats!
Powerful stuff to cause accelerated deterioration!
Thanks for very interesting observations, Matt!
How amazing! You have a busy neighborhood! Critters love it there! Without your effort and contribution, who would have ever known about what goes on after dark in the animal kingdom!