Owl Pellet Dissection

AYVA was recently given the opportunity to dissect different sizes of  Carolina’s owl pellets! Even with the limited stock, we were able to use both the small and large owl pellets to experiment on.

Owl pellets are remnants of an owl’s diet and digestive process, composed primarily of indigestible parts of prey such as bones, fur and feathers. These pellets are regurgitated several hours after an owl consumes its prey, and the process of regurgitation can last from seconds to several minutes. Young owls do not produce pellets until they have begun to eat their prey whole.

These pellets provided us with a fascinating look on what an owl’s regular feeding diet may look like. Within both pellets we found multiple bones relating to brown rats, one of the many food sources of everyday barn owl’s. These bones included the femur, humerus, tibia, fibula, jaw, skull and pelvic bone. These were easy to identify thanks to the owl pellet study kit. This kit contains a manual with plenty of pictures of all the bones that you might find within an owl pellet.

While we only dissected two owl pellets, each pellet can differ from the next, whether they are small or large. The shape and texture of a given owl pellet depends on the species owl and its prey. Pellets can be tightly compacted, oval, and furry, or loosely packed with an irregular shape.

As we compared the dissection of the larger and smaller pellet we noticed that there are more remains in the larger pellet. The larger owl pellet had more identifiable remnants of the prey making it easier to determine the owls’ feeding habits and local ecosystem. By using the larger pellets, students have more components to analyze to give a closer look into the owls behavior.