Owl Pellet Experience

A year of adventures for this year of schooling. We are excited as this week's adventure/experience was dissecting an owl pellet. We have been studying animals in our Science curriculum and we just finished learning about owls. It was a perfect opportunity to dissect an owl pellet.

We read about owls in our Encyclopedia of Animals book.

Then the fun began - first I had them draw what it looked like before we began. Yeah, I know what it resembles but an owl pellet is not from THAT end of an owl. An owl actually yarps (regurgitates) the bones and fur of animals that it eats. The pellet is then sanitized for your protection.

Kaleb is working on separating the pellet. I was truly amazed at how many bones were actually in the pellet.

J is working on hers. She couldn't believe it either! It took some time but they finally separated the bones and fur from the pellet.

This is what we came away with - a ton of bones. I think each pellet had at least four skull pieces and lots of vertebrae. We soaked the bones in bleach to make them whiter and easier to see. This was an experience that J said she would do again. She loved finding all of the bones, like a mini treasure hunt!