North Bay ecologist wants you send him your moose poop

Peter Nosko, an ecologist at Nipissing University in North Bay, ON, says he needs the public's help in collecting moose poop.

It's for a graduate research project tracking the differences in chemical nutrition between moose in different parts of Ontario and Newfoundland.

Why, for example, do moose in Newfoundland eat primarily balsam fir in the winter, when their relatives in Ontario tend to stay away from that particular species?

"That was our first question," Nosko said.

"This one tree species can represent more than 90 percent of the moose diet in Newfoundland," Nosko said. "But there are other studies that show that this species balsam fir while it's relatively palatable among conifers...it's still not highly nutritious."

"And people have stated in the literature that a diet of this one tree alone will not be sustainable, that the moose will starve."

Tracking the Newfoundland moose's diet will also provide researchers with some insight into moose's preferences, which will then allow them to figure out ways of replacing the depleted balsam fir forest.

The least invasive way of studying what moose are eating is to track the food as it makes its way through the digestive tract, and then, through the droppings.

To get that, Nosko is asking for assistance, especially collecting samples from moose that live in the boreal forests north of Timmins.

"The trick is that ideally those samples should be frozen as soon as they're found in nature," Nosko said. "They should be put in a Ziploc bag and well -sealed with a little bit of information on them."

At that point, Nosko said, he'd be pleased to make the exchange, however that can be arranged. He also adds that before his callout for moose droppings, he didn't consider the logistics behind the delivery of the samples.

The challenges of shipping moose poop became apparent as volunteers began to spring up, offering up their collections.

Nosko said from a research perspective, it's a good problem to have.

"But If somebody collects a significant amount of samples, I surely would pay for it to be shipped to me directly if they're at some distance away," he said.

To contact Peter Nosko, you can email him atpetern@nipissingu.ca.