SAMPLE INTRODUCTION A
Barn Owls have many adaptations which help make them
better predators. For example, their disk-shaped face helps
focus light and sound to give them excellent sight and
hearing. Since they hunt at night, they must rely mostly on
their hearing, which is extra sharp due to the asymmetrical
placement of their ears. Special feathers enable them to fly
silently, so the owl is able to swoop down on its
unsuspecting prey and grasp it in its sharp talons. Barn Owls
then swallow their prey whole, but they are not able to digest
the bones, fur, feathers, and teeth. These are formed into a
pellet, which the owl regurgitates. By dissecting these
pellets, one can determine what the owls have eaten. The
purpose of this lab is to infer the type and number of prey
animals the owls have consumed by examining the contents
of their pellets.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION B
Barn Owls are carnivorous birds that hunt and kill other
animals for food. Most raptors regurgitate the undigested
portion of their prey, which can include fur, feathers, scales,
beaks, claws, teeth, and insect exoskeletons, formed into a
small mass called a pellet. Owl pellets are especially
interesting to examine because owls swallow their prey
whole. The purpose of this lab is to learn about the feeding
habits of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) by examining the
contents of its pellets.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION C
The purpose of this lab was to determine the contents of an
owl pellet. An owl pellet is produced by an owl. An owl eats
its prey whole, then regurgitates the parts it cannot digest in
a small pellet. A Barn Owl has silent flight. It also has a
facial disk to help it hear and see better. An owl has sharp
talons to grasp and kill its prey. There are bones and fur in
the pellet. If we know what a Barn Owl eats we can learn
more about Barn Owls. An owl hisses to scare away
predators.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION D
“Whoosh!” the Barn Owl swoops down silently and grasps
the little vole in its sharp talons. Although it’s the end of life
for this unlucky rodent, it is chow time for our friend, the
Barn Owl. After the Barn Owl swallows its furry meal, it
will regurgitate the yucky, indigestible parts in the form of a
pellet. We will dissect these disgusting little packages to find
the bones and fur of the vole inside.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION E
Have you ever wondered what’s inside an owl pellet? Well,
in this lab, we had the chance to open up these fascinating
objects to determine what the owl had for dinner. It was an
amazing experience. We really learned a lot about the Barn
Owl from looking at their pellets.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION F
A barn owl has many adaptations to help it catch its prey.
Some of these adaptations are silent flight, asymmetrical
ears, a special organ to form pellets, sharp talons, a sharp
beak, and hissing at predators. All these adaptations make
the owl a great predator.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION G
The purpose of this investigation is to find out hands-on
what an owl pellet is like and what can be in it. The pellet I
examined was from a barn owl, or Tyto alba. Tyto alba, like
all animals, has adaptations to help it survive in its
environment. One adaptation this owl has is excellent vision
to see its prey even if it’s pitch black. Second, it has
marvelous hearing so it can sense its prey even if the animal
is out of sight. Lastly, the owl’s sharp and pointy claws,
called talons, help it catch and kill its prey.
Tyto alba is found in open ecosystems, such as deserts,
grasslands, marshes, and agricultural fields. This bird’s niche
is a consumer. It is at the top of the food chain in its
ecosystem. Tyto alba is a raptor, otherwise known as a
“bird of prey.” A raptor is a carnivorous bird that hunts and
kills other animals for its food.
It regurgitates the undigested part of its prey that it
cannot swallow, because owls cannot chew their food. These
regurgitated items form into balls and are left in the owls’
nests. These balls are called pellets, which can include fur,
feathers, scales, beaks, teeth, and insect exoskeletons.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION H
Barn Owls (Tyto alba) have adaptations that allow them to
hunt and catch their prey. Razor talons are used to catch and
kill prey. One ear is above the other to allow the owl to find
its prey on sound alone. Another adaptation is that the Barn
Owl has a disk-like head, which allows them to see and hear
better. After eating its prey, the flesh and organs are
consumed, while the bones and hair eaten are regurgitated in
the shape of a pellet. We have been dissecting the pellets to
try to see what our Barn Owl consumed and then later
regurgitated.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION I
An owl pellet is one of the most fascinating things about
an owl. In this adventure we will investigate an owl pellet.
The owl pellet we will be using comes from a barn owl. Barn
owls have thick feathers to absorb any sound for a silent
flight. They can turn their head 270° since they can’t move
their eyes in their sockets and owls are nocturnal. Owls are
carnivores, they use their keen sense of sight to find prey in
the dark. They have an acute sense of hearing which also
helps in finding meals. Owls are stealth hunters, they can
easily sneak up on their prey with their sharp talons.
Owl pellets are masses of bone, teeth, hair, feathers and
exoskeletons of various animals preyed upon by raptors, or
birds of prey. Since owl do not have any teeth, they eat their
pray whole or by pieces. After an owl swallows its meal, it
travels down the esophagus, then through the proventriculus,
and finally into the gizzard. In the gizzard, the meal is
separated. The parts that are not digestible go in the pellet.
After the pellet is formed, the owl regurgitates the pellet.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION J
The purpose of this investigation was to determine what the
barn owl, Tyto alba, eats. This is quite simple to do because
barn owls have an interesting adaptation. When they eat,
they swallow their prey whole. All the indigestible parts,
such as bones, teeth, and fur, are formed into a pellet and
regurgitated. By dissecting these pellets and identifying the
prey animals whose bones are inside, one can determine
what type of animals and how many were eaten by the owl.
Some of the prey items a barn owl typically eats are small
mammals, such as voles, mice, shrews, and moles. They also
will occasionally eat songbirds and even bats. The barn owl
catches these animals with its sharp claws, called talons. It is
able to hunt very effectively because it has excellent hearing
and sight and can fly virtually soundlessly.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION K
The barn owl, like all owls, is a raptor, or “bird of prey.” It is
an especially good predator due to its many adaptations. For
example, the owl, which is mostly nocturnal, has such
excellent hearing that it is able to hunt effectively in
complete darkness. It satellite-shaped facial disk and
asymmetrically placed ears enable it to pin-point even the
tiniest sound made by its prey, small animals, such as voles
and mice. When the owl captures its prey in its sharp talons,
it swallows it whole, bones, fur and all. The soft parts are
digested, but the fur and hard parts are formed into a pellet
and regurgitated by the owl, often as it roosts in the rafters of
a barn. These pellets can then be opened up and the bones
inside identified in order to determine what the barn owl has
eaten. In this experiment, we will not only find out what
animals the barn owls ate, but also how many.
Sample Introduction L
What is a barn owl pellet? Well, I will tell you. A barn owl
pellet is a bunch of bones, fur, feathers, and other stuff that
the barn owl cannot digest. It is coughed up by the owl and
then we can brake it open to figure out what animals of prey
that the barn owl ate. This is why we did this lab. I had 2
voles in my pellet. The barn owl also has a lot of adaptions,
like silent flight, a satellite face, and talons. This lab showed
that barn owls eat a lot of voles.
Sample Introduction M
Barn owls are very fascinating creatures. They are mostly
nocturnal, but they sometimes come out in the day time.
Their habitat is a barn. They eat mice, voles, moles, shrews,
rats, and other animals. When they eat them, they make a
pellet. We dissected their pellets to find out what they ate
and also what adaptations they have. They have
asymmetrical ears which helps them hear very well in the
dark. They also have special feathers so they can sneak up
on their prey without making any noise. This is why owls are
so interesting and amazing.
Sample Introduction N
“Heart-shaped Owl” and “Monkey-faced Owl” are just two
of the many nicknames of the barn owl, but its official,
scientific name is Tyto alba. The barn owl is a bird of prey
found all over the world. They are considered the friend of
farmers because they hunt voles, mice, and other small
animals that can be agricultural pests. Their preferred habitat
is open fields and so they are often found roosting in barns
and other buildings by day and hunting by night. When the
owl captures its prey with its sharp talons, it swallows it
whole. The parts that cannot be digested, such as fur and
bones, are formed into a pellet and regurgitated by the owl.
The purpose of this investigation was to examine the pellets
of the barn owl in order to determine what it eats.
Sample Introduction O
The purpose of this investigation is to determine what a barn
owl eats by dissecting its pellets. The barn owl forms a pellet
every day. It is a small, oval-shaped mass that contains all
the parts of the barn owl’s food that it could not digest. We
can open up the pellets and identify the tiny bones inside and
find out if they are from a mouse or a vole or a mole, or
some other prey animal. We can also figure out how many
prey animals the barn owl usually eats each day. We know
that the barn owl is a very good hunter because it has such
amazing hearing and sight. These two senses are extra-sharp
because the face of an owl is shaped kind of like a satellite
dish. Like a satellite dish, it funnels in sound and light waves
to the owl. The owl sees very well in dim light and it has
such amazing hearing it can even hunt in total darkness,
which is helpful because it is usually nocturnal.
Sample Introduction P
Even though owl pellets are really gross, we can learn a lot
from them, for example, we can find out what kind of
animals the barn owl ate and also how many it ate. This is
the purpose of this experiment. To find out what the barn
owls ate. We know they eat a lot of rodents and small
animals like that, but this can tell us how many they ate and
exactly what kinds there were eaten by the owl. We know
the owl probably ate a lot of preys because it is such a very
good predator, having so many good predator adaptations,
like silent flight, and long legs, and sharp talons. And really
good hearing.
Sample Introduction Q
Tyto alba, the barn owl, is a hunter of voles, mice, shrews,
and other small creatures. The barn owl mainly hunts at
night, so it needs to have very good eyesight and hearing.
Another adaptation of the barn owl helps us learn more
about it. The barn owl swallows its prey whole, then forms a
pellet containing all the parts it can’t digest, such as bones,
teeth, fur and feathers. The purpose of this project was to
take apart owl pellets to find out what kind of prey animals
and how many the barn owls eat. Since barn owls mostly eat
voles, my hypothesis was that I would find at least one vole
in my owl pellet.