Owl Pellets For Sale

What’s In a Pellet?

What’s in an owl pellet? Why is it so exciting to find owl pellets for sale? (Click here to purchase your own.) Although many birds produce these packets, the owl may be the bird known best for these deposits. Birds can’t chew their food and their digestive system works in a way to compensate. Owls and raptors (diurnal birds of prey) swallow their prey in one piece. From there the process works differently between owls and the other large birds. Owls do not have a crop (the organ where food is stored until the body can digest it). Instead the food travels directly to the gizzard. Once there the food is broken down by a combination of digestive fluids and gravel. Anything that can be dissolved travels through the rest of the owl’s system. Those things that cannot be dissolved are compacted while still in the gizzard and then regurgitated. Owls typically produce two pellets in a 24-hour period.

Why Do People Study Owl Pellets?

These tidy packets are used by researchers for a variety of reasons:

1. They are convenient to gather because owls often favor specific roost or feeding posts. This makes the pill-shaped objects easy to find – at least, if you happen to live in an area where owl are common. For those people who live in cities or who want to study the habits of owls that aren’t native to their own area, then owl pellets for sale may be the best option.

1. The compact little objects are packed full of information. Inside you will find bones of the animals that have been eaten, claws, beaks, teeth, parts of insects, and the husks of seeds. Tightly woven around these bits are materials such as feather, vegetable fibers, and fur. These packets are full of information useful to those who study them.
2. The size and shape of the pellet will help the researcher determine the species of owl that produced it. It can also provide information about the type of prey consumed by the bird.
3. Pellets are not droppings. They don’t smell bad and they have never traveled through the intestinal tract. Unlike some of the other means of gaining animal information, these packets do not create an unpleasant working environment.

Inspiring Young Minds to Seek Discovery and Exploration

If you are a teacher, a leader of young explorers, a homeschooling parent, or a park ranger, you might want to consider how the dissection of owl pellets could be used to provide discovery opportunities. These small sausage-shaped packets have been used in classrooms for many years as object lessons during discussions on food chains or predator-prey relationships. They may also be used to spark enthusiasm among young scholars for science and exploration.

From Professionals to the Curious

Outside of the classroom, owl packets are also used to enhance wildlife management efforts. The size and contents of the packages provide information about population density and the diversity of birds within one area. If professionals haven’t had experience with dissection already, they can take advantage of owl pellets for sale and practice their dissection skills. These tidy little packets are just the right size to inspire curiosity in practically any mind.