Owl Pellet Dissection: An Opportunity For The Study Of Vertebrate Skeleton

Did you know that the dissection of owl pellets can be a great exercise for the study of comparative anatomy?

           Owls are a group of highly efficient nocturnal birds of prey. Therefore, they present adaptations and hunting skills such as an excellent vision (vide their large eyes) great audition and specialized feathers to promote a silent flight.

      As generalist predators they could feed on various animals, from invertebrates (such as insects) to large vertebrates. However, these birds do not have the ability to chew their food and so the prey are swallowed whole. The soft tissues are digested to nourish them and then the undigested portions as feathers, hair, bones and teeth are compressed into a pellet and subsequently regurgitated.

     

     Given that,in one of my classes we had to identify through the pellets  dissected which bones were present and assume which animals were predated according to the pattern of bones that has each group. Through the analysis of these pellets is important to understand the preferences of the animal, as well as the dynamics of prey in a given ecosystem. It was expected to find bones of rodents, moles, shrews and birds in separate pellets or even in the same one.

Expectation...

My Owl Pellet 

Some bones separated (red box) from the fur.

  

 The bones are sets that follow a similar pattern in vertebrates - allowing the study of comparative anatomy.

Comparative Anatomy

Hey all,

here I am again to tell you a little bit more about my internship as a science major here. So, I have taken different classes and one of them was the Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates, a class taught by the professor Dr.Hood here at Loyola. Sounds hard, huh? And it was. Although I've learned a lot during this class since I took the lecture and the lab. The lecture required a lot (I mean A LOT) of reading and dedication otherwise you would not be able to understand the classes and neither the lab.

In the lab with my friends!

We labeled all this points to compare and figure out relations of ontogeny or phylogeny between different types of skull 

          Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy is a course concerning the evolution of vertebrates. We explored how vertebrates originated, their characteristic anatomical and physiological features, how they developed, and how those features allow vertebrates to perceive their environment, seek prey, avoid predators, maintain homeostasis and basically do everything an organism must do to live. The vertebrate body is not simply a collection of static anatomy, but that the form and function of vertebrates is integrated into functional systems.

                                        

Different types of teeth

It was a great experience since I learned how to identify homologies and analogy between structures in the vertebrate’s skeleton and the relevance of form in function of several structures, including the teeth. We also learned the biomechanics of the vertebrate skeleton and the most diverse types of locomotion and its implications.

Last but not least, we learned all the systems that compose the body of vertebrates from its functioning until the name of its main structures.

                                                                   Dissection class

Ps: remember that the animal was already preserved.