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 owl pellets . The pellets were sterilized.
OUR PELLETS
Owl Bags
Searching for Bones
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