Owl Pellets

1. Owl Pellets What did the owl eat?

2. Owl Pellets • Owls are birds of prey. They hunt for their food with sharp, pointed talons for grasping prey and a hooked beak for tearing meat. They swallow a lot of bones, fur and feathers when eating their prey. Several hours after feeding they regurgitate the undigested material in a compact pellet. Because the bones in the pellet are relatively undamaged, it is possible to use the contents of the pellet to find out what the owl has eaten.

3. Ask: What did the owl eat? Collect observational data: Place your pellet on a sheet of newspaper. Pull apart the pellet with a toothpicks or your hands. Separate the bones from fur and feathers. Sort the bones (skulls, jaws, ribs, arms and legs) Decide how to display them. Two possibilities are … • Assemble the bones from a single animal, recreating the original skeleton. • Make a display of all of the bones you found, organizing them in an interesting way. Mount your bones on heavy paper with glue. What did the owl eat?

4. Extension Activities • Weigh the pellets before you begin dissection and weigh the weigh of the bones collected. • Identify the animals consumed by the skull and bones collected. • Graph the class results of animals consumed. • Construct a food web that ends with the owl. Begin with plants and end with at least one of the animals found in the owl pellet. • Bring in books and videos about owls and other birds of prey.