Reuniting Kids w/ Nature – Owl Pellets

MATERIALS: 

Owl Pellets can be ordered ahead of time through Pellet Lab .  These pellets will have already been treated, so you won’t have to worry about the germs, pests or stink that can come with the pellets you find in the wild.

You can also use tweezers, bamboo sticks or toothpicks, a magnifying glass, plastic gloves (optional) and a bone sorting guide to help explore your pellet. *All additional items can be ordered through the above website, but are not necessary.

TIME FRAME: 

30 – 60 minutes

PROCEDURE:

• Cover the table you’re working on with newspaper or a table cloth
• Gently start pulling apart your owl pellet (you can start by breaking it in half, if you like)
• Explore!  Lay out all of the bones you find and try to decipher what each of them are.

REFLECTION: 

How many skulls did you find in your pellet?  How many other bones did you find?  What kinds of bones were in your pellet?  What did you learn about the teeth of the different animals?  Do you think the owl that this pellet came form picked what it was eating, or do you think it was just hungry?

CONNECTIONS: 

An owl pellet is the regurgitated bones and fur of an animal that was consumed by an owl since they cannot be properly digested by the owls digestive system.  Since owls don’t have the ability to pick apart their food and eat only what they can digest (like we can), they, instead, handle the processing of their foods differently than we do.

TIDBITS: 

Did you that barn owls consume twice as much food for their body size as other owls?

TIPS & IMAGININGS: 

• Wearing gloves can help with the gross factor, but remember, there are no germs left in your pellet!  It is completely safe to explore your pellet with just your hands!
• Imagine being an owl and hunting for your food every night… where would you wait and stalk your prey?  How would you see at night?