I love it when I hear or see owls at night. This video will discuss 10 cool facts about owls, what to know about them, information on how they survive in the wild, fun facts on how they hunt, and how their eyes and ears have evolved to be very different from our own.
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10 COOL FACTS ABOUT OWLS
10. Owls can’t move their eyes
Owls’ eyes are rod-shaped and act as binocular telescopes. They are not eyeballs. An owl can only change what it is looking at by moving its head.
9. Asymmetrical ears
Owls have one ear much higher on the left side of the head than on the right side. This allows an owl to identify sound sources vertically very accurately. Owls can perceive sound and locate prey much better than other birds.
8. 270-degree neck rotation
An owl can turn its head almost all the way around and actually look left by turning its head right. This cuts off circulation to the brain, but the owls have a blood reservoir in their enlarged blood vessels leading from above the neck to the brain.
7. Owls have weird feet
Owls have 2 toes facing forward, and 2 toes facing backwards on their feet. This allows them to get a good grasp on branches and to scoop up prey. Their feet are like a clamp.
6. Huge wing span
Great Horned Owls’ average wingspan is about 120 cm. This allows them to glide down onto their prey silently. Flapping their wings could cause a noise that would startle a mouse.
5. Night vision
Owls don’t actually have night vision. Their eyes work the same way as human eyes with rods and cones. Rods are more sensitive to light. Owls have many more rods and fewer cones. Cones are used for color vision.
This makes their vision more sensitive to light and less sensitive to color. Owls might see the world in close to black and white.
4. Pest control
One barn owl can eat over 1,500 mice or rats per year. Owls are often thought of as an omen of bad luck, but having owls around your home is actually a good thing.
This is Animal Science TV and we don’t believe in bad luck. They will kill pests like rodents that could be in your home. If you have a barn, you are lucky to have a barn owl nest inside.
3. Apex Predator
The Great Horned Owl is an Apex Predator. An apex predator is a carnivore that has no natural predators. The great horned owl can eat other birds, rodents, and even animals as big as a skunk. It is one of the finest hunters to have ever evolved.
2. Not endangered
The barn owl is the most common owl in the world. There are an estimated 150,000 barn owls in Europe alone. Owls are a supremely successful species, and this makes most owl’s conservation status listed as “least concerned.”
1. Wise like an owl
This saying is a myth dating back to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, who has an owl as her symbol. Owls are probably not more intelligent than other birds, such as the parrot, crow, or raven.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In summary, owls are captivating birds of prey known for their keen eyesight, remarkable hearing, and nocturnal habits. Serving as natural rodent controllers, they play a vital role in maintaining ecological balance.
With over 200 species found across diverse habitats, owls have long been subjects of folklore and symbols of wisdom. Their unique adaptations, like silent flight and rotating heads, make them one of the most intriguing and essential predators in the animal kingdom.
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