Monday, December 8, 2008

Owl Regurgitation

Earlier in the month of December, the entire participated in the act of taking apart an owl pellet, and seeing what bones were contained inside. This was a very interesting lab to take part in. We began by learning about owl's and their pellets, which is really regurgitation. The owl eats animals whole, the basically throws up their bones in a pellet. The pellet, covered in fur, is able to be taken apart, and you can find out which animals the owls have eaten. We had to find out what prey had fallen into the owl's grasp, and put a skeleton back together. My group, consisting of Scott and I, had found a full vole skeleton. It was very cool seeing how different animals body structure and bones looked like compared to ours. I enjoyed this lab very much, and would like to do it again.