Owl Pellets

by Lisa on April 13, 2003

Both kids have brought home owl pellets for dissection for their science classes.

At first, M. was all, euuwwwwwww, owl vomit. But owl pellets are quite dry and very soft. And very dense. You have to tease them apart with great gentleness.

What at first looks like dryer lint separates into clumps of mouse and vole fur. You find a head — eek. And then, whoa.

There it is: a tiny skull, with teeth. And there’s more: mandibles, tiny ribs, tough, tiny spinal joints, claws, the impossibly small bones of a tail.

From the comments archive:

But what IS an owl pellet? A tiny foetus? No, surely not? They must have skipped this bit when I went to school!
– from Jill, Monday, April 14, 2003

An owl pellet is a little bundle that the owl spits up: containing the undigestible bits of its dinners. A bit like the fur balls that cats spit up. So, gross, but… interesting.
– from Lisa, Monday, April 14, 2003