- WU Team
- 2 July, 2026
- 9:22 am
- 0 comments
A loo with a view for a number two
Did you ever dream of becoming a scatologist when you grew up? Apart from telling the odd toilet joke, possibly not! Scatology is the study of scats or faeces, which can tell us a lot about animals we don’t know much about, such as diet, health and genetics.
Left: Genetic sampling of BTRW scats Right: A loo with a view (Images: Willow Bourke)
Wildlife Unlimited field ecologists had a great excuse to crack a few inspoorational toilet jokes on a recent excursion to the Gariwerd-Grampians National Park, on the lookout for southern brush-tailed rock-wallaby (sBTRW) scat. After deploying monitoring cameras on our previous trip, our eyes and noses were put to the test this time to collect fresh samples across the sBTRW habitat.
Like the spot-tailed quoll, the sBTRW is partial to a loo with a view, as you can see from these precariously placed pellets!
These sublime scented samples have been sent off to project partner, Cesar Australia, who will complete genetic analysis and report back to Parks Victoria on genetic health of the population.
Find out more here Grampians Ark project a lifeline for endangered native animals
