Question

1.       Identify the likely habitats for each of the categories of prey found. If the owl was responsible for all of the pellets, where would you say the owl was searching for food?

2.       Identify at least three other types of information that could be obtained by studying prey remains in owl pellets?

3.       What are two advantages as a predator that an owl might gain by being nocturnal?

4.       What are two features (each) of owl’s 1? Structure; 2. Physiology and 3. Behaviour that allow them to be successful nocturnal predators?

Answer 1

1.

• The owl can ingest 2 to 3 different types of prey at a time.
• The bones and furs of the prey cannot be ingested by the owl and it regurgitated and thrown by the owl in the form of pellet.
• Owl's habitats are farm lands, grasslands , marsh lands and deserts.
• So, depending upon the prey , for eg. if frog bones are found in the pellet then the owl might be present in marshlands or farmlands.

2.

• Owls pellets can be examined for the prey that had been eaten up by the owl.
• The owl regurgitates the ingested prey's bones , fur etc which cannot be digested by the owl.
• From the pellet ( single pellet) , the number of preys the owl had eaten at a time can be found by searching for different types of jaw bones in them. This is the simplest way to identify the number of species it has ingested.
• By dissecting pellets and studuying them the habitats of the owl can be learnt.
• The feeding habits of the owl which changes from season to season can also be learnt .
• Studying pellets also allows us to learn about the adaptation of the owl in the ecosystem , for a particular niche.

3.

• Owl is a nocturnal bird . Because of this adaptation , owl has great sense of hearing . It can locate a rat or mice 10feet above ground and 30 yards away during flight .
• It can also attack the prey all of a sudden because of this nocturnal adaptation and slow flight .

4.

Structure

• The owls have eyes and ears located in the front which is distinct feature from other birds.
• The owl's eyes are large and it allows good depth perception .
• The ears are located slightly one above and one below ie they are assymmetric , which provides the owl grear sense of hearing

Physiology

• Due to the presence of assymetric ears , it has gained good sense of hearing.
• The wings of the bird is so large that can fly very slow which makes the bird easy to identify the prey while moving slowly. The wings also doesnot produce noise when flying which is an added advantage.

Behavior

• Head bobbing - It increases the depth perception of the eyes and identifies the prey.
• When the owl is threatened , it ruffles the feathers and put them down which makes it to look large.