OWL PELLETS
Mrs. Gray sent home a letter to our
parents explaining about our owl project. She explained in the
the letter that most birds cannot chew
their food and owls are no exception. Owls usually swallow their prey
whole. However, owls differ from other species of birds because they do
not have a crop, the baglike organ used to store food after it has
been swallowed so that it can be digested later. In owls, food passes
directly from the mouth to the gizzard. The gizzard uses digestive
fluids and bits of sand and gravel to grind and dissolve all of the
usable tissue from the prey. The types of tissue that can be dissolved
by an owl's digestive system include muscle, fat, skin, and internal
organs. These tissues
are broken down into a variety of nutritional substances by the owl's
gizzard and intestines. Indigestible material left in the gizzard such
as teeth, skulls, claws, and feathers are too dangerous to pass through
the rest of the owl's digestive tract. To safely excrete this material,
the owl's gizzard compacts it into a tight pellet that the owl
regurgitates.
The regurgitated pellets are known as owl pellets.
She purchased our owl pellets. The pellets were
sterilized.
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