Owl Pellet Dissection

Turn your pupils into budding young detectives, as they discover the fascinating world of owls and their pellets!

This workshop is designed to give your pupils a unique insight into the feeding habits of our native owls in an exciting and interactive way. Pupils will learn all about British owls and their fascinating food chain by dissecting an owl pellet, collected from the wild by our British Projects Manager as part of our Raptor Nest Box Project. Working in groups of two’s or three’s, they will hunt for small animal bones located within the pellet to discover what the owls have been eating. They may even find a skull or two! Your students will learn about the importance of a healthy food chain, and how pellets can be used by scientists to study birds of prey in the wild.

This workshop is a memorable experience not to be missed!

Key subject:

Science

Adaptable for:

Key Stage 1 – Key Stage 2 (can be adapted for Key Stage 3)

Objectives:

Pupils will be able to:

Understand what owls eat, how they hunt, and be able to recognise a basic food chain
Conduct a dissection of an owl pellet and identify small mammal bones
Understand how this information can be used to study birds of prey in the wild

Curriculum links:

Using observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions and using straightforward scientific evidence and experiments to support their findings.
Discover and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air).
Identify that animals need the right types and amount of nutrition that they get from plants and other animals.
Using the idea of a simple food chain, identify and name different sources of food and identify producers, predators and prey.

Running time:

50-60 minutes