Stomach Content and Fecal Analysis: Methods of Forage Identification * 
A. LORIN WARD 2 
INTRODUCTION 
The food habits of wildlife in the United 
States have been studied by examining diges- 
tive tract material for more than a century. 
The primary interest of the pioneering studies 
was to determine the economic status of bird 
species. Results of these first studies prompted 
investigation of other wildlife. Inauguration 
of Federal Wildlife Food-Habits Research in 
1885 started an organized laboratory approach 
to the field. Names associated with the early 
work were Barrows, Beal, Cottam, Forbes, 
Gabrielson, Judd, Kalmback, Lantz, Martin, 
Merriam, Sperry, and Wetmore. The early 
work is summarized in ‘‘American Wildlife 
and Plants” (Martin et al. 1951). 
The scientific study of food habits is essen- 
tial to an intelligent understanding of our 
wildlife and domestic animals. Knowledge of 
the foods used by specific animals is basic to 
the management of their population and envi- 
ronment. This paper reviews and evaluates 
methods and techniques of identification and 
measurement of plant materials found in the 
digestive tract and fecal samples of herbivo- 
rous animals. 
GENERAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE 
Many workers have examined stomach con- 
tents to determine foods eaten by foraging ani- 
mals. Three good references on food-habits 
methods and techniques are Martin et al. 
(1951, Martin and Korchgen (1963), and 
Dzieciolowski (1966a). Work with rodents 
has been done by Baumgartner and Martin 
(1939), Keith et al. 1959), Kelso (1934), 
Myers and Vaughan (1965), Tevix (1953), 
Ward (1960), Ward and Keith (1962), 
Williams (1962), and Williams and Fin- 
ney (1964). Rabbits have been _investi- 
gated by Dusi (1949), Bear and Hansen 
(1966), Hayden (1966), and Sparks (1967). 
Animals in the Cervidae family have been 
studied by many people. Stevens (1966), Murie 
(1951), and DeNio (1938) reported work on 
elk. Chamrad and Box (1968), Dzieciolowski 
* Research was conducted at Laramie in cooperation 
with the Wyoming Game and Fish Comm. 
? Principal Wildlife Biologist, Rocky Mt. Forest and 
Range Exp. Sta., USDA Forest Serv. located at Lara- 
mie, Wyo., in cooperation with the Univ. of Wyo. Central 
headquarters for the Station is maintained at Fort Col- 
lins, Colo., in cooperation with Colo: State Univ. 
146 
(1966b), Korschgen (1962), and Leach and 
Hiehle (1957), to mention a few, worked with 
deer. Bergerud and Russell (1964) worked 
with Newfoundland caribou. Dirschl (1962) 
and Cole and Wilkins (1958) studied the food 
habits of antelope. Talbot and Talbot (1962) 
reported work on African ungulates. Stomach 
contents, collected by killing domestic sheep, 
were reported by Norris (19438). Heady and 
Torell (1959) and Van Dyne and Heady 
(1965) analyzed materials collected from 
esophageal fistulas. Food habits of cattle, by 
examination of samples from either esophageal 
fistulas or ruminal fistulas, have been reported 
by Galt et al. (1966), Harker et al. (1964), 
Heady and Van Dyne (1965), Malechek (1966), 
Shumway et al. (1963), Torell (1956), and 
Van Dyne and Heady (1965). 
Dusi (1949) first studied food habits of her- 
bivorous animals by histological analysis of 
feces. He developed procedures which were 
better adapted to herbivores than earlier meth- 
ods used by Baumgartner and Martin (1939) 
to analyze squirrel stomach contents. Martin 
(1955) used the features of leaf cuticle in 
feces to assess the botanical composition of the 
diet of sheep grazing on heather in Scotland. 
Croker (1959) tested the value of Martin’s 
(1955) method for sheep on two types of tus- 
sock grassland in New Zealand. Hercus (1960) 
reported on further work in New Zealand. 
Storr (1961) used microscopic analysis on 
feces of quokkas (Setonix brachyrus) in Aus- 
tralia to determine their diet. Adams (1957) 
and Adams et al. (1962) proposed a method of 
estimating the diet of snowshoe hares (Lepus 
american bairdii) by using recognition items 
found in the feces. Hegg (1961) examined fecal 
speciments from red deer (Cervus elaphus), 
chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), and roe deer 
(Capreolus capreolus) from the Swiss National 
Park. Kiley (1966) used the microtechnique of 
fecal analysis to invesigate the feeding habits of 
waterbuck (Kobus defassa Ruppell and K. ellip- 
siprymnus Ogilby) in the National Parks of 
Uganda and Kenya. Stewart (1967) examined 
the qualitative potential of the technique of 
identifying fragments of grass leaf epidermis 
in feces. Eight species of palatable grasses 
with clearly separable characteristics were 
used so that misidentifications could not affect 
the results. The seven species of semitame ani- 
mals were: Wildebeest (Cannochaetes tauri- 
nus), Coke’s hartebeest (Alcelaphus busela- 
phus cokei), Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles 
(Gazella grantii and G. thomsonii), buffalo 
