Owl Pellets

Class Description:

This activity offers a chance for students to dissect sterilized Barn owl pellets. Each pellet contains a small mammal skeleton which students reconstruct, glue on cards, and bring home (to delighted parents).

Total time: 1.75 hours
Audience: 6-20 students, 4th grade through adult
Activity level: easy
Travel: none
Total uphill travel: none

Outcomes

Upon completion of the Owl Pellets evening activity students will be able to:

Understand the role and adaptations of owls in the ecosystem.

Understand the concept of a food web.

Dissect an owl pellet.

Identify small mammal skulls and bones using a bone identification chart.

Minnesota Graduation Standards

The Owl Pellets evening activity will provide students with guided practice, in an authentic setting, to support the following Graduations Standards. We have chosen one to three “major focus” standards per grade level. Due to the holistic nature of environmental education, several other standards, not listed here, are addressed as well.

6.2.1 Understands the interactions and interdependence of components of biological systems.

Wolf Ridge Curriculum Concepts

• Biodiversity. A complex natural system (food web) is more stable than a simple one and more able to absorb disturbances.
• Ecological adaptations. All living things acquire physical and behavioral adaptations to be successful in their environment.

Classroom Connections*

• Journal page download
• Pre-visit activities
• Post-visit activities
• Links to Owl and small mammal information and activities on the web

*requires Wolf Ridge password