Owl Pellets
Owl PelletsBy Rachel LeePeriod 6Code 9Introduction
My Comparative Question and HypothesisMy hypothesis: If the diet
of a Barn, Saw-whet, and Screech owl were to be researched, then
the Barn owl will eat the most variety of prey animals because it
is the largest among the three owls.
My Comparative Question: Which owl species eats the most variety
of prey animals, the Barn, Saw-whet, or Screech owl?Procedure /
MethodsFirst we received an owl pellet. Then we recorded the
length, width, height and mass of our pellet. We all started
breaking the pellet into small pieces and started to dissect.
Later, I sorted my bones to the ones that look alike and created
the skeleton of my prey animal. After this, we collected our data
and created a comparative question with our confirmed answer.
Finally, from all that information, we created a PowerPoint that I
am showing you right now.
My Prey SkeletonThis is my prey skeleton that is (was) a Pocket
Gopher.
A Barn Owls Prey (few of many)
A Pocket GopherA MouseA ShrewA VoleMy DataTable 2: Types of Prey
Animals found in Owl Pellets Period 6 Results:
AnimalVolePocket GopherMouseShrewRatBirdMoleTotal#
found49102101063Percent78%16%3%2%0%2%0%100%Table 1: Summary of
Individual Owl Pellet Contents Prey animal foundNumber of
eachNon-prey items found (if any) Bird1
NonePocket Gopher2My Data (Contd)Table 4: Types of Prey Animals
found in Owl Pellets Entire Grade Results:
AnimalVolePocket GopherMouseShrewRatBirdMoldeTotal#
found26027374030331Percent79%8%11%1%0%1%0%100%Table 3: Number of
Prey Animals per Pellet Period 6 Results:
My Data(Contd)Table 6: Entire Class Statistics
Average number of prey animals per pellet (mean)Type of prey
animal contained by most pellets (mode for Table 4)Number of prey
animals contained by most pellets (mode for Table 5)Lowest to
highest number of prey animals in one pellet (range)3Vole30 - 8
Table 5: Number of Prey Animals per Pellet - Entire Grade
Results:Graphs
My Comparative Question Data(Data from
http://www.allaboutbirds.org)Type of OwlVariety of Prey AnimalsBarn
Owls(Tyto Alba)10Saw-whet(Aegolius acadicus)34Screech(Megascops
asio)23
Barn Owl Food Web
Discussion
Conclusion
Thank You for Watching
