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.