owl pellet report Essay Example
Owl Pellets
Introduction
Owl pellets are masses of bone, teeth, hair, feathers and exoskeletons of various animals preyed upon by raptors, or birds of prey. Owls have weak stomach muscles that form undigested bones, feathers, and fur. Because they can’t break those things down they regurgitate them in the form of a ball called a pellet. Owls produce these pellets and regurgitated them approximately 20 hours after eating. The purpose of this lab is to dissect an owl’s pellet and investigate what was on that singular owl’s diet. We are first to do this by identifying the bones of the animals the owl eat.
Hypothesis
If I were to examine and dissect a different owl pellet (independent variable) than previously done then the variety of bones found within the pellet (dependent variable) would change depending of the owl’s diet.
And
If I were to identify and find different types of bones (independent variable) in an owl’s pellet then I could infer and know what kind of animals the owl had eaten. (Dependent variable)
Materials
In this lab we used:
. An owl pellet
. A ruler to measure the length and height of the pellet
. 3 wooden toothpicks to separate the pellet apart
. Tweezers to pick up the bones within the pellet
. Chlorine to put on the bones
. A small beaker to put the chlorine inside it
. Plastic Gloves to protect our hands
. A paper to put the bones we found on top of it
. A mass scale to measure the weight of the pellet
Procedures
1. Measure the mass, and the length and width of the owl pellet. The length of the owl pellet is 4cm long. The width of the owl pellet is 2cm long. And the mass of the owl pellet is 3 grams.
2. I carefully examined the exterior of the pellet. By doing so I notice a great amount of fur all over and observed that there were also some bones sticking out of it.
3. Carefully I used a toothpick to break apart the
Introduction
Owl pellets are masses of bone, teeth, hair, feathers and exoskeletons of various animals preyed upon by raptors, or birds of prey. Owls have weak stomach muscles that form undigested bones, feathers, and fur. Because they can’t break those things down they regurgitate them in the form of a ball called a pellet. Owls produce these pellets and regurgitated them approximately 20 hours after eating. The purpose of this lab is to dissect an owl’s pellet and investigate what was on that singular owl’s diet. We are first to do this by identifying the bones of the animals the owl eat.
Hypothesis
If I were to examine and dissect a different owl pellet (independent variable) than previously done then the variety of bones found within the pellet (dependent variable) would change depending of the owl’s diet.
And
If I were to identify and find different types of bones (independent variable) in an owl’s pellet then I could infer and know what kind of animals the owl had eaten. (Dependent variable)
Materials
In this lab we used:
. An owl pellet
. A ruler to measure the length and height of the pellet
. 3 wooden toothpicks to separate the pellet apart
. Tweezers to pick up the bones within the pellet
. Chlorine to put on the bones
. A small beaker to put the chlorine inside it
. Plastic Gloves to protect our hands
. A paper to put the bones we found on top of it
. A mass scale to measure the weight of the pellet
Procedures
1. Measure the mass, and the length and width of the owl pellet. The length of the owl pellet is 4cm long. The width of the owl pellet is 2cm long. And the mass of the owl pellet is 3 grams.
2. I carefully examined the exterior of the pellet. By doing so I notice a great amount of fur all over and observed that there were also some bones sticking out of it.
3. Carefully I used a toothpick to break apart the