Owl_Pellets

Owl Pellets INTRODUCTION Owl pellets are tiny undigested portions, which the owl eats. The owl regurgitates these compact pellets, which contain fur, bones, etc. of small rodents. Owls mostly eat pine voles. Dry pellets do not smell or have an unpleasant odor for individuals to handle. The purpose of observing the dry pellets is to teach a part of the natural food chain and to teach skeleton parts by contrast. The hypothesis for this observation is that when dissecting the pellet, it would be very clear to distinguish which bones and furs identify the particular type of rodent. B.METHODS AND MATERIALS The material used for this lab project was as followed: dry owl pellets, paper towels, sharp dissecting tweezers, copy of rodent skeletal system, pencil and paper to record results. C. RESULTS The results show that as pine voles were in high numbers, hispid cotton rat, eastern harvest mouse, and deer mouse had a low count; others were not a prey very often. The results drawn from this experiment were as follows: 1. Insectivores = 0 2. Eastern Mole = 4 3. Least shrew = pellets, mouse, owl, voles, shrew, results, rat, pine, bones, very, rats, pellet, owls, lab, dry, cotton, teach, study, rodent, paper, often, numbers, mole, made, low, indicated, hispid, harvest, fur, found, experiment, eat, eastern, dissecting, deer