Owl Pellet Lab

Question: What organisms does an owl pellet contain?

Hypothesis: If an owl pellet is regurgitation then it will contain at least one organism.

Prior Knowledge: I knew that owls ate small rodents and birds. I also knew that owl pellets are the owls regurgitation. I learned that eagles and hawks also create pellets because they swallow their prey whole or tear them apart. Owls regurgitate around every 20 hours, which is something that I also learned.

Protocol: 1. Go pick out an owl pellet.
               2. Measure the length and width of the owl pellet.
               3. Observe the outside of the pellet.
               4. Use the tools provided to break apart the pellet and make observations.
               5. Organize all the bones that were found. Then, use your chart to label the type of bones.

Materials: Owl Pellets, dissecting needles, paper towels and the bone chart you were given.

Data: In our owl pellet, we found 1 rodent skull, jaw, and vertebrae. We found 2 rodent forelimbs, 2 hind limbs and 2 pelvic bones. We also found 8 rodent rib bones.

Results: From this information, we were able to conclude that our owl had only eaten and regurgitated 1 rodent.

Analysis:
              Discussion/Interpretation: Through this experiment, we learned that owl pellets can contain a variety of different organisms that they have consumed. I also learned that many other birds such as hawks, eagles, and seagulls also regurgitate their food in pellets. Their pellets provide food and shelter for clothes moths, carpet beetles and fungi. Owl pellets are more useful when determining an owls diet because other birds don't usually eat the fur and bones like an owl does.
                    Uncertainties/Errors: An uncertainty in this lab would be that the bones were packed so tight into the pellet that they could have been crushed. This is a problem because we could have mislabeled or miscounted them when using the chart Mrs. Michaelsen gave us.
              Next Time: The only thing I would do different the next time would be to take more time and be more careful when opening the pellet.

Conclusion: Our owl pellet, or regurgitation, did contain one organism that was consumed by the owl. I thought it was really cool that we were able to find almost all of the rodent's bones inside of the pellet. I really liked doing this lab.