Credit the process of elimination for this week’s enigma.

A Chilmark resident found a profusion of poops at the edge of her driveway and wanted to get to the bottom of it. The grouping of fecal matter was a clue, since some animals are more likely than other to create these types of terrestrial toilets.

Called latrine sites, these small areas serve as a communal location for certain animals to habitually excrete their liquid and solid waste. While many animals individually leave droppings in piles, latrine sites are places where more than one animal uses the same area repeatedly and, sometimes, at the same time. Not all beasts expel waste collectively in this manner.

Some types of ants and mites create special areas in their nest for their community’s bodily refuse. In mammals, lemurs, meerkats and European badgers are known for their use of shared latrine sites. Locally, include river otters, skunks and raccoons among the Island’s animal populations that have their own wild public restroom of sorts.

Each animal leaves their calling card in different habitats and with different characteristics.

River otter latrine sites are often located near water or along their travel paths between water bodies. Typically, it is the male otters that meet and greet each other at these waste stations and they leave behind not only scat, but also scent jellies (mucous) and gland secretions. Their scat is easy to identify as it contains mainly fish scales and crustacean bits.

These latrine sites are otter social hubs where males of one or more groups can converge and interact. Researchers have observed signal behavior, which includes body rubbing, urinating and sniffing each other, and document a defecation dance that includes stepping side to side with their back legs and shaking their booty.

Both sexes of raccoons visit latrine sites and often more than a few different ones weekly. Their tubular, blunt-ended scat often includes seeds and nut shells, ranges from two to three inches in length and has the diameter of a dime or as large as a nickel.

Skunk scat are smaller than raccoons, but share their tubular nature and blunt end. They are composed of insects, berry seeds, fur and even feathers and are one to two inches long. This best described my friend’s samples, and that identification makes a lot of sense as she suspected a skunk den underneath her nearby shed. With a bit of detective work, it wasn’t difficult to confirm the identity of the depositor of the driveway biological detritus.

And while animals use latrine sites as territorial markers, for ritual behavior, social networking and sanitation, they can represent a hazard for humans and our pets. Pathogens and diseases can be transmitted from these assemblages of excreta. Raccoon and skunk stools can contain roundworm and other maladies that can be spread to humans and other animals. Always take care when cleaning or removing any animal wastes and keep your pets away also. Ultimately, we must all heed the call of nature. And while some species prefers a private room with a porcelain throne, others use an outdoor gathering spot for socializing and dancing, along with excretion. To each their own, for not everyone can be party pooper.

Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.