Owl Pellets: They’re Regurgitastic!

November 17, 2024 4:49 AM

You can find many cool and yucky things in pellets, such as bones, fur, feathers, teeth, and skulls.

This post brought to you courtesy of a furry little surprise I found under a tree yesterday.

posted by cupcakeninja (7 comments total)

Me and my owl buddy Lucy recently ran a Powerful Owl pellet analysis for 40 grade 5 girls and boys in Australia, for the first time, using pellets we'd collected and sterilised. We were kind of worried that we'd get refusals because of the yuck factor, but only one boy found it a bit much, and he just watched his friend analyse his. It was totally amazing, the kids were wildly enthusiastic, "Lucy! Lucy! I found a jaw! What is it?" Mostly it was possums and bats, but with several unexpected bits of plastic. Two kids, totally unprompted came up and said, "best lesson ever!" Given the great response, I think we'll be running that again, though Lucy's and my families are not quite so enthusiastic about the freezer full of hundreds of owl pellets we've collected.
posted by drnick at 5:53 AM on November 17, 2024 [9 favorites]

My preschooler dissected owl pellets at her science day camp this past summer. The camp counselors in their infinite wisdom sent the spoils home with the children. Naturally I attempted to throw away the mouse skull my child brought home in her backpack, because, like, what else does one do with a mouse skull an owl coughed up, but the histrionics that ensued were on a scale heretofore unseen from this kid. She had truly fallen in love with her mouse skull and the idea of putting it in the trash was horrifying.

I am planning to keep it another month or so then toss it and it she ever asks after it will pretend I've forgotten where I put it.
posted by potrzebie at 11:07 AM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]

what else does one do with a mouse skull an owl coughed up

If you're my kid, you keep it for years, adding it to a growing collection of skulls, bones, molts and feathers, until your room looks like a scene out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre house. So...so many bones. So many.
posted by mittens at 11:48 AM on November 17, 2024 [5 favorites]

I'm not sure I understand why anyone would want to throw away a mouse skull that their daughter obviously loved. The skull will have been sterilised and it's not like it'll take up a lot of space. Now if it had been an archaeology class and she came back with a T Rex skull or something, maybe that would be a space problem.
posted by drnick at 1:31 PM on November 17, 2024 [4 favorites]

Potrzebie, you keep that mouse skull forever and ever or until Lil pot' decides it's not cool anymore! If it squicks you out find a small clear plastic box that you can seal up in with super glue to keep it shut. Only one of my kids out of four totally abandoned all of the weird natural treasures they accumulated.

They didn't keep them all, but one still has the beaver skull they found hiking by the Snake River, one has one a mustang horse hoof paperweight, and one has kept owl pellets, snake rattles, antlers, shark teeth, cow skulls with deformed horns, rocks, weird wood burls, and saguaro ribs, etc. I, myself, am debating whether or not to give away that same mustang's skull to the local Halloween decorating overachiever. It's hung on the tack shed for nearly thirty years as a warning about the glue factory to my knot heads.

Cupcake, you and Lucy are doing the Lord's work.

A T-rex skull? Home renovation. Add another room!
posted by BlueHorse at 1:38 PM on November 17, 2024 [4 favorites]

Oh man, we've got a couple great horned owls in my neighborhood, I can't believe I never thought to look under the trees they hang out in for pellets.....brb.
posted by lemonade at 6:00 PM on November 17, 2024 [4 favorites]

I wonder if coyote poo is that serendipitous. I find possum skulls all the time but not in the scat, which is mostly densely matted hair and poke berries, at a glance.
posted by toodleydoodley at 7:58 PM on November 17, 2024