By Colin Hascup Period 1 13 Introduction We dissected owl pellets to find out what the b arn owls ate My comparative question was Where do owls eat the most prey My hypothesis was that owls in the northeast would have the most skulls My hypothesis was ID: 362671
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Slide1
Researching Regurgitation
By Colin HascupPeriod 1 (13)Slide2
IntroductionSlide3
We dissected owl pellets
to find out what the
barn owls ate. My comparative question was “Where do owls eat the most prey?” My hypothesis was that owls in the northeast would have the most skulls. My hypothesis was
dis
proven
.
The
barn owls in the northeast had an average of 3.45 skulls in
each
pellet. The barn owls in the northwest had an average of 2.23 skulls in each
pellet. The barn owls in the southeast had an average of 2.53 skulls in each
pellet. The barn owls in the southwest had an average of 3.65 skulls in each pellet. I found these numbers interesting. The southwest had the most skulls. I think this is because the population of the prey animals is higher in the southwest than any other region of the
United
S
tates
.I had predicted that the pellet from owls in the northeast would have the most skulls. This is because I had 4 skulls in my pellet and some people in my class had up to 8 skulls. But I didn’t account for the other pellets in my class. In science, we need to use multiple samples.
Comparative QuestionSlide4
First we picked our owl pellet
s, then we weighed and measured
each pellet. We labeled the length, width and height of each pellet. Next we
dissected
our pellet
s.
W
e looked for bones using a toothpick and tweezers to pry apart the thick fur. We f
ound as many bones as we could. When we were done dissecting, we identified the bones and put them in specific categories
according to body part. Then we counted up the parts to determine how many full animals were in the pellet. We recorded how many animals we had and glued one of
the sets of animal bones to a bone chart and labeled it.
ProcedureSlide5
Bone ChartSlide6
Owl QuestionsSlide7
Graph of the types of prey animals found in pellets.Slide8
Graph of the number of prey animals found in pellets.Slide9
Graph of the average number of skulls in barn owl pellets.
Source:
California Owl Pellet AppSlide10
Graph of the number of bones found in my pellet.Slide11
Size of owl pellet chart
M
easurement
Size
Size of owl pelletSlide12
Charts of prey animals found in pellet
Vole
Mouse
3
1Slide13
Barn owls have adapted to become amazing birds of prey. The dissection of owl pellets was used to figure out what owls eat. A complete skeleton of a vole was constructed with the bones from the owl pellet.
In addition, extra research was conducted to evaluate “Where do owls eat the most prey in the United States?” For this research the California Owl Pellet App was used. The hypothesis that owls in the northeast region of the United States would have the most skulls was refuted. Owl pellets had the most skulls in the southwest, possibly because there are more prey animals in the southwest. However, only one source was used to obtain the average numbers of skulls in the pellets. These numbers could have had a possible source of error. There is human error from counting wrong or
mis-identifying the skulls. Another possible source of error is that pellets from other owl species could have been included. A way to improve this lab would be to use multiple sources for finding the data. Owl pellets are a very useful scientific tool to help scientists determine what owls eat. In
addition
, apps like the California Owl Pellet App have pros and cons. They are useful because many people can report data. This is good because it gets a lot of samples, but bad because it might introduce a lot of error.
C
onclusionSlide14
Fun Facts!!!
1. Barn
owls screech, they do not hoot.2. The
barn owl’s heart-shaped face collects sound in the same
way as
human ears.
3. Its
hearing is the best of any creature tested.
4. Owl chicks in the same nest will feed each other.5. In order to live and breed, a pair of barn owls needs to eat around 5,000 prey items a year.
6. The barn owl is found on every continent except Antarctica.7. Nests
are usually in barns or holes in trees, but sometimes they build their nests in quarries