If there’s such a thing as ‘special’ animal poop, Montana officials say they found it

There’s often a good reason rarely seen things are rarely seen, but that didn’t stop the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks department from sharing one such oddity on Facebook.

It posted a close up photo of a ball of sawdust and explained it was 100% beaver poop.

Humans rarely see beaver poop, the department said, making the discovery worth talking about.

“This is what beaver poop looks like ... a mini sawdust snowball,” the post said. “This beaver poop is special, though, because this beaver poop is out of the water. Beavers almost always poop in the water, usually within the very ponds where they spend most of their time. Seems gross, but it begs the question... where else would they do it?”

The Nov. 17 post, which probably qualified as too much information, has gotten hundreds of reactions and jokes. This includes people asking if beavers ever get splinters when they poop or if their poop can be used to start a fire.

“I mean, I’m happy the beaver couldn’t make it to the ‘bathroom’ on time so we could get this awesome post,” Randi Wedlake wrote.

“Dream accomplished!” Allen Harshbarger added.

As for why beavers always go potty in water, Montana officials said it’s so they don’t have to crawl through each other’s droppings on land. “That’s a hard no for almost any animal,” the department said.

“Fortunately, beavers are strict herbivores, so they only eat plant material. Logically, that’s all they poop, too,” the department wrote.

“But a bunch of sawdust on a mucky stream bottom is not much different than the hundreds of twigs, leaves, and sticks the beavers leave there throughout the year anyway. No harm, no foul,” the post concluded.

This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 2:22 PM with the headline "If there’s such a thing as ‘special’ animal poop, Montana officials say they found it."