Mystery Photo
Normally I am well acquainted with the natural history of any Mystery Photo I post, but today is an exception. I have no idea whose scat this is, nor the origin of its color. A forester, Adam Riquier, discovered it in Lake Placid, NY. He writes that “The forest type is hardwoods (maple beech, birch with some red spruce) right at an edge where it transitions to a cedar forest. It was taken three or four days ago, so there are no berries out yet. There is some blue stain fungus on downed hardwood nearby. The scat is roughly golf ball sized.”
In hopes that a Naturally Curious reader might be familiar with this oddity, I secured Adam’s permission to post his photograph. If you think you know whose scat it is, and/or the origin of its color, please share your expertise with us! (The scat was found at least a mile from any houses, not eliminating the possibility of (blue) rat poison having been ingested, but making it fairly unlikely.)
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Unicorn poop
May 23, 2017 at 6:37 am
Definitely unicorn poop !
May 23, 2017 at 6:41 am
Perfect! I too vote unicorn 😉
May 23, 2017 at 6:42 am
Results of drinking a blue slurpee!
May 23, 2017 at 6:47 am
was it possible that the critter was close enough to someone’s home to be eating blue sidewalk chalk?
May 23, 2017 at 6:55 am
Looks bird-ish. Wild turkey? Goose? Does the blue color go all the way through, or is it just on the surface?
May 23, 2017 at 6:56 am
Smurf camping in the woods?
May 23, 2017 at 7:10 am
Definitely a chemical blue color I’d say! Looks like dog poop to me.
May 23, 2017 at 7:12 am
I doubt it’s dog or unicorn feces if on a log and golf-ball sized. The color reminds me of 1) new Brillo pads and 2) the residue on a tub from acidic water going through copper pipes. Very weird. And where the heck does the similarly colored fungus fit in?
May 23, 2017 at 7:16 am
Blue-pooted booby
May 23, 2017 at 7:25 am
I’m gonna guess dog poop–seems small (rat) terrier size. (Owner careless about using poison around the house and also careless about cleaning up after their dog. Was it near a trail?)
May 23, 2017 at 7:31 am
got into a box of miracle gro
May 23, 2017 at 7:52 am
Looks as though it has been there a while and may have been coated with blue fungus, perhaps? Checking inside may tell one more.
May 23, 2017 at 7:53 am
obviously extraterrestrial avatar
May 23, 2017 at 7:53 am
Could ingesting cedar cause this color?
May 23, 2017 at 8:24 am
I like the miracle gro idea-but knowing how long it sat there would help as it looks moldy and mold can come in many colors
May 23, 2017 at 8:37 am
It may be that this creature ingested rat poison, unfortunately.
May 23, 2017 at 8:52 am
“Blue poop… I saw you standing alone…”
May 23, 2017 at 9:05 am
When in doubt, post something ridiculously funny!! 🙂
May 23, 2017 at 9:23 am
Raccoon found stash of leftover Easter Peeps
May 23, 2017 at 9:28 am
The forester is pulling our legs. He was out marking trees with blue spray paint and sprayed this poop pile.
May 23, 2017 at 9:47 am
that’s what I thought
May 23, 2017 at 11:34 am
Fisher scat, probably after indulging a psychedelic mushroom.
May 23, 2017 at 9:52 am
Fox sign with blue fungus on surface. I bet the blue is only on the surface.
May 23, 2017 at 10:16 am
Play dough! Obviously!
May 23, 2017 at 10:18 am
I agree with John. It does look like fungus growing on some older mammal scat. Much like the parasitic Hypomyces lactifluorum mold grows on other mushrooms and turns them orange.
Perhaps whatever the animal was eating was “internally composted” to the perfect moisture and level of decomposition. Then the wind was blowing in the right direction and at the exact right spore producing time. Close enough to the blue staining wood seen nearby. Then probably a long dry spell to not wash off the spores or breakdown the scat. And everything was accelerated to produce this prolifically molded, seldom seen, interesting blue scat. Just a guess though. Could be your friend w/blue paint. 🙂
May 23, 2017 at 10:48 am
And sweetpotato7.
May 23, 2017 at 10:51 am
It’s such an unnatural color. might the critter have eaten a paintball?
May 23, 2017 at 10:59 am
sure is the color of Decon granules ….
May 23, 2017 at 11:05 am
Wonderful replies! I vote for unicorn poop, with 2nd place for blue pooping booby.
May 23, 2017 at 11:08 am
Looks like the color of cedar berries to me. A fox that ate a bunch of last year’s berries?
May 23, 2017 at 11:53 am
ASK THE PERSON WHO SPRAY- PAINTED THIS DEAD SNAKE AND THE AREA AROUND IT WHAT OTHER WORKS OF ART THERE ARE AVAILABLE TO CAPTION
May 23, 2017 at 1:42 pm
My dog once got into hydroseeding and created a greenish blue poop. It was bizarre!
Perhaps this animal also consumed hydroseed? Was anything like that sprayed nearby?
May 23, 2017 at 2:13 pm
Ha, ha, David…..my first thought….a Blue-Footed Booby….but why did it leave the Galapogos Islands…then I thought something OD-ed on copper & that is corroded poop….does it have to be scat? It could also be a hairball from a 🤔 ….. Hmmmmmmm?? Mary must be chuckling! 😹
May 23, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Something ate blue cotton candy!
May 23, 2017 at 3:58 pm
Mary, We’ve seen golf balls in the woods with the outer layer chewed off, some think by foxes. The inner layer is about that color. Weird….
Carol Evans, Topsham Maine
May 23, 2017 at 4:23 pm
Some critter ate a chunk out of the blue salt lick?
May 23, 2017 at 8:09 pm
If you look carefully at the photo it appears that the wood under the scat, as well as some of the needles scattered throughout the picture are tinted a similar color blue, might this suggest a fungus and not something ingested by the animal? Is it possible that it is Blue Stain Fungus (Chlorociboria aeruginascens)?
May 23, 2017 at 9:13 pm
My second guess is that something ate too much red cabbage.
May 23, 2017 at 9:24 pm
My daughter told me that’s what happens when their chickens eat red cabbage!
May 24, 2017 at 3:15 pm
The color is most unnatural. And I haven’t seen a neatly coiled scat like that. Did the animal have to circle its butt while defecating to make it coil like a snake?
May 23, 2017 at 11:04 pm
back a few years, well quite a few years there was fake rubber poop that was very symmetrical, is it possible?
May 24, 2017 at 4:57 pm
A “Turquoise-Turd-Laying-Turkey?” A Forensic Pathologist might be able to help.
May 24, 2017 at 7:36 am
I vote for play-dough.
May 24, 2017 at 8:03 am
Something was hunting an indigo bunting.
May 24, 2017 at 9:46 am
Was it anywhere near water? The goose poop that floats in our lake is sometimes a bright blue-green – not quite this blue!
May 24, 2017 at 10:01 am
Hilarious! I love Jean’s butt-circling image. I suggest Faeries, maybe hovering to create the delicate spiraling….
May 24, 2017 at 10:21 am
Aaron’s suggestion looks good to me after looking at these images. Is it found in Vermont? https://www.google.com/search?q=Blue+Stain+Fungus+(Chlorociboria+aeruginascens)?&tbm=isch&imgil=DPtXt1mo-Z_6eM%253A%253BX8zJlWpYvvRD9M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fbotit.botany.wisc.edu%25252Ftoms_fungi%25252Fjul2008.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=DPtXt1mo-Z_6eM%253A%252CX8zJlWpYvvRD9M%252C_&usg=__Wy24Bstu2iCx0DSk-42P1OHlaZo%3D&biw=1319&bih=819&ved=0ahUKEwiW5Lbz4IjUAhUo9YMKHUhGBOkQyjcISw&ei=35olWdb4IajqjwTIjJHIDg#imgrc=DPtXt1mo-Z_6eM:
May 24, 2017 at 10:43 am