In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at an owl pellet. Owls are carnivores, and they eat things like moles, shrews, rodents, birds, insects, and even crayfish. Owls are unable to digest the bones and fur of these creatures, so they regurgitate (or spit up) what are called pellets--small bundles of all the indigestible parts of the owl’s prey.

Owl pellet dissection is an easy, hands-on way to learn about the eating habits of birds of prey. (Owl pellets are the regurgitated remains of an owl's meal.) But don't be grossed out - finding and piecing together the bones inside owl pellets is fascinating work for a young scientist such as yourself! As you dissect the pellet, you'll find skeletons of mice, voles, birds, and more. Synthetic pellets are available for younger children if you'd like to use a substitute.

Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard  - you can dissect a pellet right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.

Materials:

[am4show have='p8;p9;p28;p55;p153;p65;p78;p86;p87;' guest_error='Guest error message' user_error='User error message' ]


Procedure

  1. Observe the external anatomy of your owl pellet. See if you can identify the following:
    1. Fur
    2. Bones
  2. Gently break apart the owl pellet, separating it into two piles: one pile of fur and the other of bones.
  3. Use your prey guide to identify some or all of the following:
    1. Skull
    2. Mandible
    3. Clavicle
    4. Humerus
    5. Scapula
    6. Pelvis
    7. Femur
    8. Fibula and Tibia
    9. Radius and Ulna
    10. Bird parts
    11. Insect parts
    12. Crayfish parts
  4. See if you can piece some of the bones back together, and determine what sort of prey you are looking at--is it a mole, shrew, rodent, bird, insect, crayfish, or something else?

[/am4show]

Click here to go to part:24 Sheep Heart Dissection


Have a question ?

Tell us what you're thinking...