Class Response- Owl Pellets Lab

In class, we dissected owl pellets. Owl pellets are the undigestable parts of the owls diet. They contain the fur and bones of what the owl ate which include rodents like shrews, rats, and mice. The process in which the pellet is made is very interesting. Owl's use their stomach muscles to seperate the indigestable parts like the bones and fur. These go to the intestines. After about 24 hours, the pellet is regurgitated. Owl's must do this because they swallow their food whole.
After doing this lab, I learned many interesting facts about Barn Owl's. They produce pellets because they swallow their food whole and from the pellet itself, you can find out a lot about the owl like what it ate and through more extensive research, you can possibly find ou twhere it lives.