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Owl Pellet Dissection

Owl Pellet Dissection. Five species of owls live in or pass through Maryland. Barn owls Great Horned owl Barred owls Eastern Screech owl Northern Saw-whet owl. Owls of Maryland. Barred Owl. Owls have special adaptations that enable them to hunt at night.

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Owl Pellet Dissection

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  1. Owl Pellet Dissection

  2. Five species of owls live in or pass through Maryland. Barn owls Great Horned owl Barred owls Eastern Screech owl Northern Saw-whet owl Owls of Maryland Barred Owl

  3. Owls have special adaptations that enable them to hunt at night. Their eyes are large and fixed, with binocular vision and good depth perception. Because owls are unable to move their eyes, they have developed an incredibly flexible neck that allows them to turn their head 270 degrees in both directions. Their eyes are also extremely light sensitive, allowing them to see well at night. Adaptations as predators Barred Owl

  4. Owls rely on silent flight to surprise their prey. The shape of the owl’s flight feathers muffles the sound wind makes as it flows past them. These are all perfect adaptations for finding and catching prey at night, and explain why owls have become the most efficient “hunters of the night”. Owls as predators Saw-Whet Owl

  5. An idealized food pyramid

  6. Predatory mammals such as bobcats and wolves have teeth to grind up bones and claws, and, a digestive tract adapted to pass these ground parts. Owls, on the other hand, do not have teeth for grinding and cannot pass whole bone and claws through their digestive tract safely. The protein enzymes and strong acids that occur in the digestive tract of raptors do not digest the entire meal. The relatively weak stomach muscles of the bird form the undigested fur, bones, feather etc. into a bolus (or wet slimy pellets). The undigested portions may include beaks, claws, scales, or insect exoskeletons. This type of material has little nutritional value and must be passed from the body. Owl Pellets

  7. The owl pellets that you will be examining in this lab have been collected and fumigated from common barn owls (Tytoalba). Owl pellets themselves are ecosystems, providing food and shelter for communities that may include moths, carpet beetles and fungi. Moth larvae are frequently abundant in pellets, feeding on fur and feathers. The black spheres about the size of periods (.) that are found in the pellets are the droppings of the caterpillars. The larvae metamorphose near the surface of a pellet in cocoons made of fur.

  8. Ecologist examine owl pellets to estimate the diversity of prey species The contents are a direct indicator on What the owl has fed upon. Species richness Species abundance Important information for species management and protection Owl Pellets

  9. Species diversityhas two components: • Species richness: how many different species are present in a habitat • Relative abundance: total number of individuals of each species present given in % of total.

  10. Species diversity has two components: • Species richness: how many different species are present in a habitat • Relative abundance: total number of individuals of each species present given in % 2003 1. Red Maple 33% 2. Black Gum 18% 3. Sweet Gum 17% 4. Oaks 14% 5. American Holly 8% 6. Loblolly Pine 6% 7. American Beech 4%

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