What pooped on another animal’s poop? National park rangers have a mysterious ‘first’

Big Bend National Park has a mystery to solve.

An employee captured a photo of unique animal droppings in the Texas park over the summer. The mound included a pile of poop about the size of a bread loaf topped with a tennis ball-sized pile from another animal.

“Here’s a mystery for you scat detectives out there,” the national park posted on Facebook. “Which two Big Bend critters left their mark in this wash, and what were they eating?”

The park provided the photo and its location at about 3,000 feet in elevation as clues.

The park identified the bottom pile as droppings from a bear that feasted on prickly pear fruit. But the top pile was the mystery.

Some guessed it belonged to a fox, raccoon, coyote or javelina. While the park doesn’t know for certain, it also suspects a fox.

“Our best guess is a fox, simply because they are known to leave presents on top of objects such as rocks or boulders,” the park said. “They will do this to mark their territory. But this kind of ‘marking’ is a first!”

This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 5:22 PM with the headline "What pooped on another animal’s poop? National park rangers have a mysterious ‘first’."