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OWLS
OWL PELLETS
   Mrs. Gray sent home a letter to our parents explaining about our owl project.  She explained in the the letter that most birds cannot chew their food and owls are no exception. Owls usually swallow their prey whole. However, owls differ from other species of birds because they do not have a crop, the baglike organ used to store food after it has been swallowed so that it can be digested later. In owls, food passes directly from the mouth to the gizzard. The gizzard uses digestive fluids and bits of sand and gravel to grind and dissolve all of the usable tissue from the prey. The types of tissue that can be dissolved by an owl's digestive system include muscle, fat, skin, and internal organs. These tissues are broken down into a variety of nutritional substances by the owl's gizzard and intestines. Indigestible material left in the gizzard such as teeth, skulls, claws, and feathers are too dangerous to pass through the rest of the owl's digestive tract. To safely excrete this material, the owl's gizzard compacts it into a tight pellet that the owl regurgitates. The regurgitated pellets are known as owl pellets.
She purchased large owl pellets. The pellets were sterilized and wrapped in foil.
 
OUR PELLETS
         Searching for Bones
       owl puppet and bone displays  pellets
  bones bones bones
bones   bones

  Click here to view an animation of  the dissection of an owl pellet and a special unique owl pellet.


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 Updated 05/29/16
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