Tawny Owl Research Paper

The tawny owl, otherwise known by its scientific name, Strix Aluco, or simply the brown owl, is a bird native to much of Eurasia. The tawny owl is known for it’s small, compact body, as well as its brown colorations as it is named for. This specific breed of owl is known in folklore to have an uncanny sense of sight during the night time, however this has been disproven through the work of Selig Hecht and Maurice Pirenne (Hecht and Pirenne, 1940). It was actually proven through their work that the tawny owl, however able to see a more broad range, has a similar to our own vision at low light visibilities. Much of this was thought to be true, along with the myth that this specific species of owl brings bad luck and death because of the fact that the tawny owl is a nocturnal bird of prey, and it possesses a very well known and sinister call.
The tawny owl is also very territorial, when some fledglings age they starve if they do not find their own space to nest when the care of their parents ends. Possibly the most intriguing topic when the tawny owl is brought up would be the recent learning that with the warming of the climate where the tawny owl resides, this species has actually been evolving before our very eyes (Karell et al, 2011). The tawny owl has gradually become more tawny essentially, over the period of time during this study. The owl has been “micro evolving” as the climate has been warming. From the presence of more white, which would camouflage the bird during long winter months against the snow, to more brown which will be better suited with less snow. In this paper, discussion of just how these changes occur, with respect to relevant chemistry, biology, genetics, and evolution will be