Special to the News
Mr. Walker’s fifth grade students at Central Elementary School have been studying ecosystems.
They have learned about food webs, food chains, predators, prey, and raptors.
They learned that owls eat small mammals like moles, voles, shrews, and mice, as well as other small birds. Since the owls cannot digest the bones and hair, the owls form a ball of these leftovers.
This ball of waste is called an owl pellet and is spit out by the owl similar to the way a cat releases a hairball. The students observed the outside of the owl pellet and drew a picture.
The little scientists also measured the length and width of their pellet with a metric ruler, as well as the mass of the pellet using an electronic balance.
Lastly, the students used plastic tweezers and toothpicks to “dissect” the owl pellet. They found many small bones which they compared to a chart and identified.
It is evident from the pictures that it was a fun day of learning for our young scientists.
