Owl Pellet Dissection
Katrina Rosenberry
Mr. Jones
Anatomy & Physiology, Period 4
8 January 2015
Owl Pellet Dissection
Doing this owl pellet dissection, I learned that owls have to eat their prey whole because, they do not have the mechanics humans and other animals have to chew food. During digestion, owls digest the food by separating the meat from the bones. After this, the owl regurgitates the remaining hard material such as the bones and anything else it can not digest. For this separation process, the meal must go into the gizzard. Once the digestible material is removed from the gizzard, the remaining part is formed into a round pellet. Once the pellet is formed it is pushed out of the gizzard and into the proventriculus. Here the pellet will stay for several hours and has to be thrown up before the owl can eat its next meal. Depending on the meal, the pellet will contain either feathers or fur, and bones. Pellets have also been found with seeds, exoskeleton of bugs, and plant stalks. There has been occurrences where there has been found nonfood items in it. Pellets may be painful for the bird, but the regurgitating process is actually very helpful for birds.This is because it is believed that coughing up the pellet actually cleans the upper digestive system. In the dissection, the pellet contained a rat skeleton. Rats have a similar skeleton system as humans do. The bone structures are similar to our human skeleton. Scientists often test on rats because their bones are so similar to ours that the scientists can experiment new products and have the ability to see how the product affects them. Depending on how the rats are affected, it
determines if the product will be tested on humans and if the product works in the way it should or if it harms the rats. Rats are also a lot easier to get than to have people risk themselves to
science.
Mr. Jones
Anatomy & Physiology, Period 4
8 January 2015
Owl Pellet Dissection
Doing this owl pellet dissection, I learned that owls have to eat their prey whole because, they do not have the mechanics humans and other animals have to chew food. During digestion, owls digest the food by separating the meat from the bones. After this, the owl regurgitates the remaining hard material such as the bones and anything else it can not digest. For this separation process, the meal must go into the gizzard. Once the digestible material is removed from the gizzard, the remaining part is formed into a round pellet. Once the pellet is formed it is pushed out of the gizzard and into the proventriculus. Here the pellet will stay for several hours and has to be thrown up before the owl can eat its next meal. Depending on the meal, the pellet will contain either feathers or fur, and bones. Pellets have also been found with seeds, exoskeleton of bugs, and plant stalks. There has been occurrences where there has been found nonfood items in it. Pellets may be painful for the bird, but the regurgitating process is actually very helpful for birds.This is because it is believed that coughing up the pellet actually cleans the upper digestive system. In the dissection, the pellet contained a rat skeleton. Rats have a similar skeleton system as humans do. The bone structures are similar to our human skeleton. Scientists often test on rats because their bones are so similar to ours that the scientists can experiment new products and have the ability to see how the product affects them. Depending on how the rats are affected, it
determines if the product will be tested on humans and if the product works in the way it should or if it harms the rats. Rats are also a lot easier to get than to have people risk themselves to
science.