Owl Pellet Project Review:

What have we learned about barn owls so far?

Use this slideshow to quiz yourself. Write down the answers in your Journal in complete sentences that restate the questions, then check the next slide to see if you are correct.

If you are incorrect, be sure to fix your answer! Owls are a type of carnivorous bird that is sometimes called a “bird of prey.”

Q1. What term did we learn that means bird of prey? A1. A bird of prey is called a raptor.

Q2. What are some other raptors besides owls?

This is my friend Megan with an Eagle Owl. She works at the Cincinnati Zoo. Other raptors are eagles, hawks, ospreys, and falcons.

Red-tailed Hawk

Bald Eagle

Falcons

Osprey This Secretary Bird is also a raptor. I saw some of these crazy-looking birds in Namibia. Although they can fly very well, they usually hunt on the ground.

These guys even kill and eat snakes! Q3. Are all carnivorous birds raptors? Support your answer with evidence!

Pelicans eat fish. So do Penguins!

FACTS: 1. A carnivorous animal eats other animals. 2. A raptor has sharp talons with which to catch its prey and a sharp beak for tearing it up. A3. Possible answer: Raptors are carnivorous birds of prey with sharp, hooked beaks and talons. There are some carnivorous birds which are not raptors. For example, penguins and pelicans eat fish, which are animals, but they do not possess sharp talons or beaks specialized for tearing.

Make sure the question is restated and that you provided supporting evidence! An adaptation is a physical or behavioral trait which helps and organism survive in its environment. These adaptations evolved over millions of years on a species level.

All raptors have special adaptations which help them hunt and kill their prey.

Q4. Name three adaptations that make the barn owl a highly effective predator. A4. Three adaptations that make a barn owl a very effective predator are excellent hearing and sight, silent flight, and sharp claws called talons for grasping and killing prey. You may have chosen three other adaptations. As long as you chose actual owl adaptations and you restated the question, you can count this as correct! Q5. What is an owl pellet? A5. An owl pellet is a compacted mass consisting of all the parts of the owl’s prey that it cannot digest, such as bones, beaks, teeth, fur, and feathers. The owl swallows its prey whole, and these undigestible parts are formed into a pellet and regurgitated. Q6. Why do we dissect owl pellets? A6. When we dissect an owl pellet, we can figure out how many and what kind of prey the owl ate. This information tells us about owl habits as well as the prey that are available in their habitat. Q7. How do you tell if you have a rodent in your pellet? A7. Rodents have two very prominent incisors on the top and the bottom of their mouths. These have enamel on them which often looks orange. There is a gap (diastema) between the front incisors and the back teeth. Q8. What are we going to do after we finish dissecting our pellets? A8. After we finish dissecting our pellets, we will identify the number and types of prey animals our owls ate, compile all our data, generate a comparative, investigable question, use our data to answer it, write a report, and display it on a poster or in a slide show. We will also reconstruct prey skeletons. I hope you are enjoying this project so far, and also learning a lot!