Owl Pellet Dissection

To finish off our unit on Ecology and Interactions in grade 7 Science, students were privileged to dissect an owl pellet to understand an owls role as a secondary consumer in their Ecosystem. Owls, like other birds of prey, are unable to digest the bones and fur of the small animals that they eat. In order to eliminate this waste, after about 6 hours of digestion, owls will regurgitate (throw up) the animal's remains in the form of a pellet. To find the bones of any animals that were eaten, students were instructed to dissect the pellet in groups, by separating the fur from the bones and mount the bones on a poster. The students were very brave and did a fantastic job!