Backyard Nature: The scoop on coyote and fox poop

Two coyotes at the horse corral at Oregon and Nebraska Avenues.

by Marlene Berlin

I learned something new about coyotes and foxes by taking a closer look at their poop.

I walk often, and often while I’m walking, I’m studying the ground before me. For that reason, I see a lot of fox or coyote scat on the street and in the park.

Lately, I have been seeing a lot of seeds in their scat. What could these creatures be eating, I wondered? Several trees, plants and fungi use wind to scatter their seeds. But many others depend on animals that eat their fruit and deposit their seeds some distance away… in poop.

Oh! And all the mystery seeds I was seeing in the scat looked alike. One day as I pondered this, I walked past one mulberry tree, then another. Ripe berries were in the branches above, and scattered on the ground below. Could this be the answer?

But, I thought, weren’t coyotes and foxes meat eaters? Perhaps, I surmised, they were eating animals that had just eaten mulberries.

Joan Merle Schaeffer spotted this fox on Albemarle Street.

Not so! Further study revealed my first instincts were correct. According to several sources, foxes eat plants, and have a particular fondness for berries, including mulberries. Coyotes eat berries, as well. They are omnivores, just like us.