InterestingFacts: Fascinating Facts About Owls pt. 1


Fascinating Facts About Owls



Owls Can’t Move Their Eyes

An owl’s eyes are proportionally enormous, comprising up to 5% of the animal’s body weight (for comparison, human eyes make up about .0003% of our total weight). Their huge size — along with pupils that dilate extra widely and a reflective layer at the back of their eyes to utilize available light — are adaptations for zeroing in on the movements of tiny rodents and other prey at night. However, they can’t move their eyes much in their tubular sockets. Owls do, however, have binocular vision (the ability to merge information from two eyes into one image, like humans), which increases their depth perception and allows them to judge the distance to their prey accurately.





Lopsided Ears Give Owls Excellent Hearing

They’re usually not very noticeable, but owls do have ears, and they serve an important role in hunting. Their ears are often situated asymmetrically, with the right ear a little higher than the left in most species. Sounds made by their prey, like rodents scratching in leaf litter, will hit each ear at slightly different times, allowing the owl to triangulate the location of the sound. Most owls also have circular patterns of specialized feathers to channel sound into the ears.
These anatomical arrangements pay off: Experiments with barn owls have shown that their incredibly sensitive hearing helps them find prey in complete darkness; they will often hover over prey and listen to its movements before striking. Great gray owls have also been observed successfully striking prey hiding under a layer of snow.

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