Owl Pellet

In class we dissected an owl pellet. An owl pellet is the regurgitation of the owl. Because the owls cannot chew they swallow their food in chunks. In the pellets are the bones and fur of the animal because the owl cannot digest them. Our pellet weighed three grams and was eight inches in length. In our pellet we found the bones of four voles. We found skulls, mandibles, ribs, scapulars, vertebrae, femurs, humerus, and pelvises. After we cleaned the fur off of all the bones, we tried to put together a skeleton. After we put the bones together we labeled the separate parts. In the end we learned that owls and other carnivorous birds regurgitate pellets that consist of bones and fur they cannot digest.

I got this picture from:: www.voles.com/fr/Vole_Skeleton.htm